While many have questioned the wisdom of Southampton spending £12 million to secure the services of the far-from-prolific Shane Long, another frontman signed in the close season could yet prove an astute acquisition. Few clubs have found themselves the unwitting victims of so much attention in the transfer market as the Saints these past few months, with several of the key players that last year enabled them to play dynamic football and achieve their highest-ever finish in the Premiership having now been signed from underneath them. Crowd favourite Rickie Lambert, who helped Southampton climb all the way from League One to the upper half of the Premiership League table in the space of a few years, was one such player, completing a £4 million transfer to boyhood club Liverpool. Lambert was a late bloomer who didnt start to truly prove his worth until he neared 30, and in Graziano Pellè the Saints might just have found a like-for-like replacement. The striker spent a number of years struggling to find the back of the net on a consistent basis and being shuttled around on loan to various clubs in the second-tier of his homeland. When Parma loaned Pellè to Feyenoord in in 2012 a move made permanent in January of the following year he finally found himself comfortable and promptly discovered his goal-scoring touch, netting 50 goals in 57 league appearances for the Eredivisie side. Pellè has now found the net in his last two Southampton appearances and looks to be settling well. He is not likely to be confused with his Brazilian near-namesake any time soon, but the Italian Pellè could follow teammate Jay Rodriguezs efforts last year to become one of this seasons surprise packages.
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