Earlier this evening Southampton finally announced their first signing of the summer, a step firmly in the right direction from the club.
Stuart Armstrong is officially a Saints player, having finally completed his £7 million move from Celtic this evening – it’s a deal that’s been a long time coming with it having been leaked that Southampton had had a bid accepted for the midfielder around a week ago.
The Scotsman is a box-to-box midfielder who can shoot from distance and has a great engine, meaning he add to the Saints’ midfield whilst also offering depth in the centre-mid positions.
However the Southampton board can’t spend any time being proud of their acquisition, but instead must focus on using this an momentum – it’s a step in the right direction but there’s some way to go yet.
Nearly six weeks have passed since the conclusion of Southampton’s dreadful 2017/18 season, in which the Saints narrowly avoided relegation after spending much of 2018 in the bottom three.
Next: Stuart Armstrong set for medical
Despite this, Armstrong remains the side’s only arrival with July just a week away, a worrying reality when you consider that the transfer window will instead shut before the new season begins.
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Southampton are in desperate need of a new winger having recently been linked with Basel’s Mohamed Elyounoussi with the deal for Quincy Promes looking dead in the water.
Furthermore, a new back-up right-back and first-choice centre-back are pretty essential before the start of the new season, although Harrison Reed or Yan Valery could potentially occupy the former.
Irregardless of that, business still needs to get completed before the start of the new season – with Mark Hughes signing a new deal pretty sharpish after the campaign finished, there was no real reason to not get things going in the transfer market, but as ever with the Saints, that hasn’t been the case.
Supporters will hope that they can see another new signing from the team within the next week or so, especially with those around them already completing good business by this point in the window.