Southampton: Saints confirm Che Adams signing and Matt Targett sale

Southampton have confirmed the signing of striker Che Adams from Birmingham City and the sale of Matt Targett to Aston Villa.

Adams joins for a reported fee of around £16m and signs a five-year deal on the South Coast, whilst the club received £11.5m as Targett left for Villa Park.

These deals mark a real breakthrough for the club in their transfer work this summer.

Adams was their number one target as they looked to add a proven goalscorer to their squad, but the money needed to secure the deal needed to come after the sale of a fringe player from the squad.

The 22-year-old is Saints’ second signing of the summer after Moussa Djenepo joined from Standard Liege.

Another pleasing announcement was coupled with another superb video by the Saints media team (shown above).

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After the Djenepo announcement showed the “Ralph Express” travelling past a Portsmouth FC boat getting into difficulties, this one depicted Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp in a spy plane searching for Saints players.

A second arrival is also expected today but it will be one that is already expected by Saints fans.

Danny Ings is due to make his initial loan move permanent with today being 1st July and is expected to sign for around £20m from Liverpool.

Ings and Adams will now likely be the first-choice strikers in Ralph Hasenhuttl’s squad going into the 2019/20 season.

If the Austrian chooses to utilise his preferred 4-2-2-2 system, both could be paired in the same side to provide the much-needed goals for Saints.

Ings found the net eight times in his first campaign at St Mary’s but was badly disrupted by injuries – something that Saints will hope can change come August.

Further transfer business is likely for the club before the Premier League begins again though.

A recent report said that they were looking to also add a wing-back and a centre-back to their ranks, whilst other players may well be leaving to accommodate the new men.