On Thursday afternoon Saints were being heavily linked with Manchester City right back Issa Kabore, by early afternoon they had announced the signing of Brentford Right back Mats Roerslev.
It was a shock to most Saints fans when Southampton FC announced that they had signed Mats Roerslev from Brentford, the first question by many was Who ?
The Danish International who turned 26 in June has been with the London club since 2019 and although he has spent a fair amount of time on loan during those 6 years has played 94 Premier League games for the club plus another 28 in the Championship as well as spells in Germany & Denmark.
His career total games in all competitions is 230 games, last season he started well, starting 11 games plus another 8 off the bench in the Premier League before joining VFL Wolfsburg on loan for the second half of the season.
He played a significant part in helping the club achieve promotion to the Premier League in his second season, a campaign in which he made 22 appearances and assisted the second goal in a 2-0 win over Swansea in the 2021 Championship play-off final.
Group Technical Director Johannes Spors said:
"Mads comes to us with lots of experience, both in the Premier League and in the Championship. He knows what it takes, not only to win promotion from this division, but to build on those foundations at the very highest level.
"At 26 years old, he arrives at a good age to help us in the short term, as well as in the seasons ahead.”
Mads Roerslev said: "I’m a happy guy, very excited to get started. I had some very, very good talks with the coach and I’m coming here to play.
"I see Southampton as a really good team who controls a lot of games, works hard and suits my way of playing. It was just an overall positive feeling about everything.”
The fee has not yet been disclosed but is likely to be in the region of £6 million, although as he had entered the last year of his contract, Brentford may have taken a lesser offer to get something now rather than see him leave on a free transfer next season.
It will be interesting to see whether he plays any part in Saturday's game against Stoke City.