Southampton have secured the signature of 28-year-old striker Graziano Pellè, the club announced via their Twitter account:
We’re very pleased to announce the signing of Graziano Pellè. Welcome to #SaintsFC, @GPelle9! #SaintGraziano pic.twitter.com/XLGQh1VVvv
— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) July 12, 2014
Pellè joins the Saints on a three-year deal, moving from Eredivisie side Feyenoord. Not many in the Netherlands expected much when Pellè moved to Rotterdam. After all, he’d been with Dutch side AZ Alkmaar for four seasons, but had made just 78 appearances and scored 14 goals.
After being released by AZ, Pellè returned to Italy. He signed with Serie A side Parma, but was loaned to Serie B side Sampdoria for the second half of the 2011-2012 season.
He returned to the Netherlands at the start of the 2012-2013 season, originally joining Feyenoord on loan. But after scoring 14 goals in his first 14 league games, Feyenoord decided to make the move permanent, and signed him to a four-year deal in January 2013. Pellè went on to score 27 goals that season. After two years with Feyenoord, he’d notched 50 goals in 57 total Eredivisie matches.
And now he’s a Saint. Pellè notched 23 goals and tallied 6 assists last season. The Eredivisie is rather famous for its tendency toward attacking -- ie, lots of goals -- but if Southampton’s new striker can come close to that number, they’ll barely remember the names of Rickie Lambert or Adam Lallana.