Player sends Chelsea goodbye message ahead of Southampton transfer

Young defender Dynel Simeu has said his goodbyes to Chelsea via social media ahead of his expected free transfer to Southampton.

Having grown up playing for teams around the Southampton area, Simeu was taken on by Chelsea as a 13-year-old and progressed to Under-23s level. He took the captain’s armband on a number of occasions last season.

However, now he looks to have chosen to move back to the South Coast to boost his chances ot breaking through to senior football in the near future.

Via his Twitter account, Simeu thanked Chelsea for helping him grow “from a boy to a man” and looked ahead to a “new challenge elsewhere”.

Southampton starting to secure some good talent for the future

More from Saints Marching

• Grading the Southampton Transfer Window Part 2: Arrivals
• Grading the Southampton Transfer Window Part 1: Departures
• It’s time to talk about Gavin Bazunu
• Rain clouds on the horizon? Southampton beat Plymouth Argyle
• A lament for Southampton legend James Ward-Prowse

With Dynel Simeu now joining Mohammed Salisu among the young centre-back options for Ralph Hasenhuttl, there is a significant look to the future beyond some of the current defenders.

Both players are strong physically and are commanding in their performances – hesitating little when attacking the ball in the air or going in for a challenge.

Simeu is expected to be a B team player for 2021/22 but Salisu should be able to take his game to the next level with more appearances and more responsibility.

They both have Jannik Vestergaard, Jan Bednarek and Jack Stephens ahead of them and these three are certainly more experienced players. Questions over Vestergaard’s future may suggest that more chances to impress will be coming the way of Simeu and Salisu sooner rather than later.

There does seem to be plenty of things in place now for Simeu in particular as he joins Saints. The club have just announced the signing of 32-year-old academy graduate Olly Lancashire for the B team exclusively, with his experience in the lower leagues providing valuable for the youngster he will be playing with.

He also has multiple coaches and a first-team manager who will be monitoring his progress closely to ensure he has every chance of becoming a Premier League regular.