Saints made it a double signing day as they quickly added Romanian central defender Florin Gardos to the roster after swooping to sign Shane Long earlier in the afternoon.

Steau Bucharest central defender Florin Gardos has joined Saints from Steau Bucharest the last team to knock Saints out of Europe.

Saints will be hoping that the 6ft 4 1/2 inch Romanian international will become as big a hit as Dejan Lovren was last season, although obviously we will all be hoping he has a lot more loyalty.

Gardos can play as a central defender but he is also able to play as a defensive midfielder, the one thing about most of Koeman's signings is they seem to be versatile and able to play in more than one position and this has to bode well.

This means that Ronald Koeman has now made seven signings and has spent approximately £46 million plus £17 million if we take up the options to buy Bertrand and Taider.

This means that there is still £30 million in the kitty from the near £100 million we have raked in from player sales so far this summer, the double signing today put paid to the notions from some supporters that Saints owner Katharina Liebherr was asset stripping and that the club has no ambition.

The squad now has a much more comprehensive look about it and as i have said on another story, the starting XI might not quite be up to the standard of last season(at least not yet) but the squad certainly is and whilst we might drop a point or two due being slightly under par in the starting team, the fact we now have a far bigger squad to cope with injuries etc should mean that we will make them up from having quality replacements.

We can now look forward to the seasons with optimism and it could be that Koeman still has a surprise or two up his sleeve although personally I hope that we perhaps save some of the money for the transfer window.

Photo: Action Images

ExiledSupporter added 18:58 - Aug 14 More than anything else now we need to (a) keep Jack Cork and (b) sign a winger Zaha, Gnabry or whoever and (c) add one more central back (then send Hooiveld out on loan). PLEASE
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sholingred added 19:01 - Aug 14 I still want the centre half from villa concrete Ron ,still needed cover there even if we sold nobody and a keeper to replace Boruc
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redandwhitedee added 19:15 - Aug 14 The 30m extra is for wages and paying off the 22m in outstanding transfer fees.
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Zambucco added 19:57 - Aug 14 Ron Vlaar and Virgil Van Dijk will complete the squad for me. We have young wingers in Lloyd Isgrove and especially Sam McQueen
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BoondockSaint added 20:24 - Aug 14 Keep some of the money for a rainy day. Hopefully he works out, but would hardly call signing Long a "swoop" Who else was after him when we snatched him from under their noses?
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zonehead added 21:24 - Aug 14 Dont let Jack go he is the WD 40 of the team
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bstokesaint added 22:14 - Aug 14 I'm beginning to feel more and more confident about the season day by day. I think it'll be a rocky start whilst the players gel, but that 10th-11th (as predicted by many bookies) isn't unrealistic. If this turns out to be the case then maybe some of our more disillusioned and deluded fans might begin to notice that we've actually taken ourselves to a new level to try and grow from in a better financial position than ever before. It's an "if" admittedly but the signs are slowly showing and promises gradually coming to fruition.

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SanMarco added 22:44 - Aug 14 I hope you are right bstokesaint - Before a season starts I usually have some sort of feeling as to how we might do. This season though I feel could be anything from 7th to 18th - No make that 17th as I don't think we will go down... I certainly agree with the comments on the need for another CB. We need to resolve the Schneiderlin situation too.
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SaintDownUnder added 22:49 - Aug 14 Anybody else see Chambers performance at centre back in the charity shield and think $16m doesn't seem like such a good deal anymore? With him,Fonte and this guy you'd have decent cover at centre back. On Cork, under no circumstances should we sell him until Spiderman proves he's committed to the cause, and that means past the January transfer window. wanyama has shown he can pick up niggles, Taider might not settle meaning we'd be light in the most crucial area of the pitch.Cork is the perfect squad player, he's premiership class and judging by his actions last season has the character we're after too.

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SaintDownUnder added 23:07 - Aug 14 Oh, and on another note, how MASSIVE is Sunday, in the words of Keegan "I'd love it if we beat them, absolutely love it" Getting excited now. C'mon Saints.
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Jesus_02 added 00:16 - Aug 15 just don't sell cork. Doesn't matter about " running the risk of losing him for nothing" Harry can sick his 3m up his arse. (In coinsof small denominations )
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BoondockSaint added 04:31 - Aug 15 Darn it, SaintDownUnder, you beat me to the Keegan quote! (I was saving it for Nick's preview). Just proves great minds think alike, eh?
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brady100 added 07:33 - Aug 15 Why save money for January? It's notoriously difficult to brig players in and we are still short of CB with PL experience. An out and out wide man is also needed as we have too many no.10s but not someone who can really stretch the play and deliver the ball. Redmond and Vlaar please Koeman!
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