Saints Bring In Cesena Midfielder

Southampton have announced the loan signing of Guilherme do Pardo in a deal that will see the player at St Marys until January with the option of making the deal permanent in January.

Also known as 'Guly' the attacking midfielder scored 9 goals last season as Cesena clinched promotion to Serie A. Do Prado has been in Italy for eight years prior to Saints move but has only spent one season in Serie A back in 2002/03 with Perugia. Following Perugia's exit from the Italian top flight the Brazilian joined Fiorentina but an injury prevented him from making an appearance in three years at the club.

Guly joins will be just one of a raft of midfield talent at Saints that also includes the likes of Adam Lallana, Jason Puncheon and Dean Hammond and will face stiff competition for a place in the team.

do Prado spoke to saintsfc.co.uk about his excitement at the move where he clearly feels the club have the ability to make it back into the Premier League:

"I am delighted that everything has now been agreed and that I can now join up with my new teammates, I can't wait to start playing.

"I was looking forward to what was going to be a very exciting season playing in Serie A, and although there was interest in me from other Serie A clubs, as soon as I heard Southampton were interested I knew that I had to come here.

"I have always wanted to play in England and at the highest possible level. The Chairman sold me his vision for where this Club is going and I wanted to be a part of that and help take this Club through the divisions."

His new manager was also pleased with the deal telling BBC Radio Solent:

"We'd like to think that he'll add to our attacking prowess. We're not flowing with goals like we were last year. He's a player who excelled in Serie B - he's a central midfielder who is comfortable in possession.

"We're taking something of a risk taking him from Serie A to League One, but we're confident that he'll be able to make the switch."

Southampton are awaiting international clearance from the Italian FA before he can play his first match, which the club are hoping will be Tuesday nights Carling Cup clash with Premiership side Bolton Wanderers. He will most likely make his league debut when Saints play Bristol Rovers at the Memorial Stadium on Saturday.