Southampton: Pied and Gardos released by the Saints

Southampton have confirmed a list of players that will be released from their contracts before the 2018/19 season.

First-team players Florin Gardos and Jeremy Pied are included along with a number of youth team players who the club feel no longer have a future at St Mary’s.

Along with Gardos and Pied, Ollie Cook, Armani Little, Olufela Olomola, Will Wood, Ben Cull, Oliver Gardner, Javen Siu and Richard Bakary will move onto pastures new.

Romanian Centre-Back Gardos arrived at Saints in 2014 for a fee of around £6m, but never claimed a consistent place within matchday squads. He spent the second half of last season on loan at CS Universitatea Craiova in his homeland.

He made just 18 appearances in his time in England and often found himself limited to U23s football after his arrival from Steaua Bucharest.

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Pied was often on the substitutes bench and was also found appearances hard to come by. He arrived on a free transfer from Nice in August 2016 and was one of Claude Puel’s first signings at St Mary’s.

However, he was mainly signed as a backup to first choice Right-Back Cedric and only played in eight matches in his time at the club. His two appearances in 2017/18 came against Bournemouth and Crystal Palace, and he looked good at times in those games.

A few of the youth players released were players that could have made their mark at the club. Olufela Olomola – a striker of potential –  joined Scunthorpe United earlier this month but had impressed on loan at Yeovil Town last season.

Ollie Cook is a commanding Centre-Back and was a key player in the U18s and U23s defence. Will Wood, who can play in the centre of defence or at Left-Back, was pushing for first-team inclusion but will now look for another place to ply his trade.

Overall, no great surprises arose from this list but Jeremy Pied’s departure possibly opens up a space for rumoured signing Tobias Pachonik, who could arrive for free at some point.