It's been on the cards for a week now but Jannik Vestergaard is now officially a Saints player, but what does this mean for our other four central defenders ?
Jannik Vestergard has become the fourth signing of the summer for Southampton Football Club in a deal that pushes up the summer transfer fees paid out so far to over £50 million and counting, suggesting that Saints are ready to spend big in revamping the squad.
Vestergaard seems exactly what Saints need at this stage, he is the signing that should have been made in January 2017 when José Fonts left and his arrival will help fix the biggest problem Saints had last season and indeed the season before that being central defence.
Turning 26 the week before the Premier League season starts he has 185 Bundesliga games to his name for Hoffenheim, Werner Bremen and Borussia Monchengladbach and also went to the World Cup in Russia with Denmark.
But. His signing puts big question marks over at least one of our current central defenders perhaps two depending on the formation Mark Hughes is intending playing.
Having signed Wesley Hoedt for big money a season ago and with Jan Bednarek starting to bloom you would assume that they are marked down as two we want to keep.
That leaves Yoshida and Jack Stephens, neither have really established themselves as true Premier League class players, Yoshida is a fans favourite for his 100% commitment, but none of those that love him for that would have had him in front of Dejan Lovren, José Fonte, Tobly Al;derweild or Virgil Van Dijk during his time with the club and the question is whether Saints put sentiment in front of cold harsh decisions.
Jack Stephens is a solid enough player, but he is not of the quality of any of the names, mentioned so far in this article, perhaps he would normally get the nod due to his versatility in the fact that he can also play full back, but so can Yoshida, I think that perhaps Stephens has a career ahead of him as a holding midfield player, but we have enough of those to not need him as cover.
I think one of Yoshida or Stephens will leave the club this season, perhaps both, if not in the summer certainly in January.
Vestergaard though seems delighted to sign and told the club's website.
"Every Danish guy loves to see himself in the Premier League — it is the biggest league in the world and a very attractive place to play as a Danish footballer,” he said.
"It has always been a dream — it is a dream — and right now I’m looking forward to it.
"I still have to experience the Premier League, but I don’t feel there are so many different aspects in the football itself.
"I think there is more awareness in the Premier League that will take some getting used to — the press side of things — but experience is always positive, and having about 200 games in the Bundesliga will make it easier for me to adapt.
"I’m quite a big guy and a physical guy, so I’m going to try to help the team in that way.”