New Southampton manager Ronald Koeman has spoken about his ambitions for the current season after his first signing for the club was announced.

Speaking to the Daily Echo Koeman has revealed how happy he is to get the start of his era under way and of his ambitions for the coming season.

“It was very important to get this signing done — not only for me, but for the rest of the squad and for our fans. It’s fantastic news.

“We’ve lost some good players but we want to continue the ambition and philosophy of the club, so it’s a great signal to have brought in our first player.

“He’s a great player. I know him very well from Holland, where he had a great season last year.

“We now look forward to bringing in more players because we want to continue and maybe even better what Southampton did last season.”

This is the sort of words that Saints fans want to hear from their new manager, like many Dutchmen Koeman has picked his words very carefully and avoided idle boasting about what he is going to achieve at St Mary's, but his ambition is very clear, Saints fans who think that just because Saints have sold a few players and have a couple of more whinging about going, that it means they no longer have any ambition, should look at the words that Koeman has said.

He has just rebuild Feyenoord and lead them to three top three finishes in the Dutch League after a period of decline, Feyenoord fans will say he restored the pride in the club, hopefully Saints fans battered by the realisation that several people both on and off the field were not honourable men, will take heart from his words and hope that in a years time they too will, like the Feyenoord faithful will acclaim the man who restored the pride to Saints

Photo: Action Images

Zambucco added 18:30 - Jul 8 Massive, massive news, it's still going to be a slow process, but I think we will start to see the signings come through the door on a regular basis now possibly up until the window closes. This is why I'm buzzing for the new season COYR!
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1970 added 18:31 - Jul 8 COYR.
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thegeneral added 18:41 - Jul 8 I hope he can pull the squad back together, but for me too many key names are gone, minimum of 8 players needed that will take time to build into a team, and when they do the big boys will come and hunt the star performers down. Tadic does look useful but we are being linked with a lot of average players, and thats all we will be able to attract. Next season is about staying in the premier league now, absolutely no chance of finishing higher than 8th. I predicted 8th place last season and i'd say 13-15th next, not being gloomy just realistic at the mess we are in.

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landsdownsaint added 18:53 - Jul 8 I'm glad he's said that ! Iv just listened to James Beattie on Sky Sports & according to him ,the clubs had it !
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SaintNick added 18:55 - Jul 8 sorry general but thats a knee jerk reaction, 3 players have left yet you say 8 are needed to replace them !!!!!!!!! There was no chance of finishing higher than 8th this coming season even if we kept all of our players, look at the sides above us, Man Utd are spending big with a new manager for instance. We still have a better squad than all but the 7 teams above us the addition of Tadic could be better than Lallana, all we need to do now is replace the other 2 in a similar fashion then we are well on our way

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thegeneral added 19:22 - Jul 8 Nothing jerky about it at all friend, we already needed a CB, Keeper and striker, Lovren will go as will Morgan and three already sold. We'll never know but 6-7th was very achievable with a couple of good additions and i base this statement on Boruc's injury absences with no decent reserve keeper, no quality CB on the bench to cover Lovren and Fonte, the amount of points dropped by being unable to defend a lead and the poor form against the top ten due to our then managers lack of tactics (because he'd been worked out), the poor choice of our record transfer fee, Jrod's injury with no subsequent quality from his replacement Gallagher.

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spitfiresaint added 20:29 - Jul 8 Agree with the general. It will take some time to get back to anywhere near normality. With Lambert, Lallana and Shaw already gone, with Lovren sure to follow and maybe Morgan and even Gaston too, with a completely new coaching team and several new signings, this season will be all about survival. Let's hope JRod can recover fitness and form because take him, Lambert and Lallana out of last year's team and there were very few goals. It's a terrible shame what has taken place over the last six months.

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bstokesaint added 20:37 - Jul 8 Got to agree with Nick, "mess" is a tad extreme. There was always a danger we'd be targeted en masse for our talented young team. However teams in a mess don't have an ambitious European manager, no debt and £100m in the transfer war chest. We could be in League 2 and with not a penny to our name. Chin up. It's a step backwards to go forwards two. We can add quality to our existing quality whilst still bringing decent players through through the academy. It's a transitional period. It's a shame the likes of Lallana, Shaw and Lovren can't see that, but then they're footballers and aren't paid to think things through. Their agents do that..

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ChristchurchSaint added 20:37 - Jul 8 Well said Nick. I appreciate what 2 posters have said about needing a lot of players, however, a few weeks ago, I think that most people had a fear that we were going to lose 90% of our squad. There were rumours about Chambers, Clyne, JWP and a few others going. OK, I appreciate that it is a long hard slog, but we do have a very good manager in charge who is considerably better than a few names that were being bandied about. Let's just chill and get irate and upset if we get to kickoff for the season and do not have adequate players- there are still several weeks of the transfer window left!

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nomorerumours added 21:52 - Jul 8 I'm incredibly optimistic about the Saints future both short and long term. Ron will take us into unchartered territory and after the bedding in, I believe we will climb the table in the second half of the season. We have a good run of early fixtures (after Liverpool) which should help too. I believe that Lovren may be the last player to go (apart from Osvaldo that is). Morg has handled his position very differently to AL and Lovren. He's been much more professional. He's thinking it over whilst on holiday. He wanted us to buy new players and I think there's a good chance that he can be persuaded to stay. Let's show him our support.

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brady100 added 22:23 - Jul 8 Far too early to start predicting where we will finish this season. We will be in a better place to judge come the end of the window. Keep Schneiderlin and spend the 60 million plus and we could start competing with everton for 7th place. All depends what calibre of player we are able to bring in, proven quality or relative unknowns or gambles from the lower leagues eg. Ings or Bahoui. Great first signing as far as you can see at this stage.

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