Southampton complete £15m Gavin Bazunu transfer from Man City and troll Portsmouth over their highly-rated former player
SOUTHAMPTON have completed the £15million signing of Gavin Bazunu from Manchester City – mocking bitter rivals Portsmouth in the process.
Bazunu, 20, spent last season on loan at Fratton Park in League One.
He impressed the Pompey faithful, earning the club’s Player of the Season award.
Announcing their acquisition of the highly-rated goalkeeper, Saints quote-tweeted Portsmouth’s Player of the Season announcement with a smirking emoji.
Southampton fans loved the sly dig, with one writing: “what an announcement hahahahahahha.”
Another jibed: “ADMIN I LOVE YOU, THIS IS THE BEST ANNOUNCEMENT EVER.”
A third replied: “Champions League Admin 😆”
After penning a five-year deal with Saints, the Irish international said: “I’m delighted to be here.
“It’s been in the works for a few weeks and I’m really happy that we’ve got everything over the line, and I’m just excited to see what’s ahead.
“I feel like it’s a place I can come and develop and learn my game. The biggest thing is opportunity – the fact that I can come here and have a chance to play regular football.
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“Just to be given that opportunity to fight for my place is the biggest thing that I could’ve asked for.”
Boss Ralph Hasenhuttl added: “As a club, we are always on the lookout for young talent and Gavin is a very exciting addition to the squad.
“We believe he has tremendous potential to improve and will give us great competition for places in the goalkeeping department.
“He is a goalkeeper with a very modern style of play, comfortable in the build-up phase, who has developed physically through some very important loan moves early in his career.
“He is already an international goalkeeper, which is very rare for his age.
“Coming from Manchester City, we know he has learned from some of the very best coaches and team-mates, and coming here gives him more opportunities to develop his game through playing in the Premier League.”
Southampton also completed the signing of another goalkeeper, Mateusz Lis, from Turkish club Altay SK.
The former Poland youth international, 25, joins as a free agent on a five-year deal.
Hassenhuttl said: “Mateusz is a player who has a lot of the right attributes we look for in a goalkeeper, and still with his best years ahead of him.
“Of course, it was a priority for us to strengthen this department in the summer, and Mateusz is an important addition who we hope will be able to help us in the future.”