Vice-Chairman, Les Reed, said: “Wesley is one of the most promising young defenders in Europe and represents a significant addition to our squad. Having procured a Champions League finalist from one Italian club we have now added an Italian Supercoppa winner from another. “We believe he has all the qualities to play a big part in our future, and we have worked hard to bring him to Southampton, with a number of other high-profile clubs interested in him. "Finding a top quality central defender is difficult in the current environment and now we have six internationals in this position, both young and experienced. "Finding a naturally left-footed player is even more difficult. We have been tracking central defenders on our target list for the past 12 months and Wesley has always been at the top of that list, so it was important to act when the opportunity came.” “Wesley has proven his talent through his performances for Lazio, as well as the Netherlands, and we believe he can develop even further here at Southampton, alongside his international teammate Virgil van Dijk, as well as the likes of Jack Stephens, Maya Yoshida, Jan Bednarek and Florin Gardos. “With Wesley joining those players, we believe we have the right amount of quality, depth and flexibility at centre-back to help us achieve our aims this season.”
Welcome Saint Wes Les: "we believe he can develop even further here at Southampton, alongside his international teammate Virgil van Dijk, as well as the likes of Jack Stephens, Maya Yoshida, Jan Bednarek and Florin Gardos. “With Wesley joining those players, we believe we have the right amount of quality, depth and flexibility at centre-back to help us achieve our aims this season.” So VD, you ain't going anywhere I expect Wes & VD to be our preferred CB partnering.
Hoedt's aerial success rate was 84% last season, with Virgil at 75%. We could have a very good back 4 on our hands yet again. Lovely stuff.
Hoedt had the best aerial success rate and the best 'long pass' completion rate in Serie A last season, too.
As long as that big red sentence isn't to cover up that it was originally in blue then i'm happy. Welcome Wesley Hoedt!
Les Reed went to Europe, To get himself a boat, Instead he got a centre back, Whose name is Wesley Hoedt.
Indeed. I totally go along with their policy and it even annoys me sometimes. Also, the long contract policy that they've gone for also means that they can hold a player for a very, very long time. This was no 5 minute idea drawn up on a table napkin. This is a way of keeping your best players. VVD is the first player to feel the heat from that policy. Under that policy, it makes absolutely no sense to me for Saints to say No Sale and then sell unless they want to. So the CB who has come in is just squad depth strengthening. He'll be a partner for some other CB, either as a first select pairing or whatever, and that's about it.
I'm seriously buzzing with this one, he's really highly rated. I still think this means vvd will go despite the positive press release, but if we do keep hold of vvd too we could genuinely push for Europe imo
