Dusan Tadic: Southampton sign Twente midfielder for £10.9m

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Dusan TadicImage source, Getty Images
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Dusan Tadic was first named in a Serbia squad at the age of 19 and has scored six goals in 25 appearances

Southampton have signed FC Twente attacking midfielder Dusan Tadic for an undisclosed fee, believed to be £10.9m.

The 25-year-old Serbia international scored 16 goals in 33 league games last season as Twente finished third behind Ajax and Feyenoord in the Dutch league.

Tadic is the Saints' first signing since Ronald Koeman replaced Mauricio Pochettino as manager in June.

"It was very important to get this signing done - not only for me, but for the squad and our fans," Koeman said.

Koeman wants to bolster his squad following the sales of defender Luke Shaw, midfielder Adam Lallana and striker Rickie Lambert.

Tadic, who Twente signed for £6.1m from FC Groningen in 2012, can play on either side of midfield and is viewed as the ideal replacement for Lallana, who joined Liverpool in a £25m deal at the start of the month.

Dusan Tadic factfile

Tadic played his first competitive matches for FK Vozdovac in the Serbian SuperLiga at the age of 18

He scored against Austria Vienna in the Europa League when he was 20

At Dutch side FC Groningen in the 2010-11 season, he was ranked third best in Europe for goal assists

Tadic scored his first goal for Serbia in the 2014 World Cup qualifier at home to Wales

"This is a really nice club of which I have heard a lot of good things about," said Tadic.

"I have already seen the beautiful training centre and there are lots of nice people that work here including the coaches, so I am really happy to be here."

Koeman feels Tadic's arrival will act as a "great signal" of Southampton's intent to move forward following last season's top-10 finish and the departure of three key players.

"We have lost some good players, but we want to continue the ambition and philosophy of the club," he said.

"We now look forward to bringing in more players because we want to continue and maybe even better what Southampton did last season."

Saints centre-back Dejan Lovren remains a target for Liverpool, who had a £20m bid for the player rejected last week.

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