Ronald Koeman moved into the transfer for the second time last week by acquiring striker Graziano Pelle from former club Feyenoord on a three-year contract. The 28-year-old teams up with the Dutchman for the third time in his career, having also worked under his guidance at AZ Alkmaar, and his arrival hands the Saints a very prolific replacement for the departed Rickie Lambert:
Discussing his move with the club’s official site, Pelle admitted he didn’t need persuading to join the Koeman revolution for the season ahead:
“I had some teams interested in me, but this is going to be the best choice for me because the club wants to keep improving every year. The talks between us were only short in terms of how long it took to convince each other. I was pretty sure that, for me, this would be a great step. [Ronald] Koeman and I worked together for two amazing years at Feyenoord, and I hope that it will be the same here.”
The History
A product of the Lecce youth system, the Italian made his debut in back in January 2004. Pelle was unable to make any impact, though, and managed just 12 goalless appearances over three years at the club – loaned out to lower league Catania on three occasions over that period, he notched 16 times in 69 appearances.
In July 2007, Pelle left his native country to sign for Dutch outfit AZ Alkmaar. Spending four years in the Eredivisie, he struggled to make any real impact and netted only 14 times in 78 league outings before moving back to Italy with Parma. His toils continued, with a single goal in 12 appearances prompting loan stints at Sampdoria (four goals in 16 league games) and a first year under Koeman at Feyenoord, where he served up an excellent 29 goals and nine assists in 33 matches over 2012/13.
Midway through that loan spell with Feyenoord, Pelle signed a four-year deal with the Dutch outfit and officially joined on a permanent deal in the summer of 2013. Once again, he served up the goals for Koeman’s side, with 26 goals and six assists in 33 appearances across all competitions – indeed, over his two years with Feyenoord, an average of 0.88 goals per game was third around Europe, with only Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo more prolific.
The Prospects
Earlier in the summer, the doubters were circling after Southampton lost their former manager and three key players but Koeman’s knowledge of the Dutch top-flight has quickly pacified Saints fans and Fantasy managers alike.
The acquisition of playmaker Dusan Tadic (16 goals and 14 assists last season) in addition to Pelle certainly suggests that Koeman has added real quality to the squad and more than atoned for the departure of Lallana and Lambert. Discussing his new forward with the club’s official website, the Dutchman summed up Pelle’s best qualities:
“I had Graziano in my team for my last two years at Feyenoord. He scored a lot of goals – more than 50 in two seasons – and they brought a lot of points to the club. Goals mean points, and we needed a good player in that position after Rickie Lambert left. In terms of his qualities, he’s a tall striker with a lot of movement and he’s fast. He’s a player who gives confidence to the team because he keeps the ball, and he’s very dangerous in front of goal. He’s almost 29 years old, so he brings a little bit of experience to a young team.”
Although the rebuilding is coming along nicely, the Saints new boys may need time to acclimatise to their new environment. Luckily, the transition has been made easier by a superb opening schedule which many may find hard to resist as we start to assemble our squads for the season ahead. Koeman’s side face just two of last term’s top eight in their opening 12 fixtures, with their first six home games seeing West Brom, Newcastle, QPR, Sunderland, Stoke and Leicester all make their way to St Mary’s.
Coming in at just 7.5 in FPL and 7.4 in the Sky Sports Fantasy Football game, Pelle has been reasonably priced for the campaign ahead. An eighth place finish last time around under Mauricio Pochettino – albeit impressive – ensures the club have no European fixtures to contend with, making rotation unnecessary and first-team starts assured. Furthermore, Lambert’s departure should ensure the Italian is handed spot-kicks and if he can even come close to replicating his previous displays under Koeman, that opening run of matches has the potential to richly reward those willing to invest.
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