Southampton sign Jeremy Pied from Nice
Southampton have completed the signing of French full-back Jeremy Pied on a free transfer from Nice.
The 27-year-old left the Ligue 1 club after his contract expired earlier this summer and has signed a two-year deal with the Saints.
Pied, who played under new Saints boss Claude Puel at both Lyon and Nice, signed a two-year contract at St Mary’s on Monday evening to link up with the manager for a third time.
Pied’s career began with Lyon, before making his first senior appearances during a loan spell with FC Metz during the 2009/10 campaign.
The full-back returned to Lyon and made 35 appearances across the course of the 2010/11 campaign, going on to win the Coupe de France the following season.
Pied then made the move to Nice to work alongside Puel for the second time. The defender made 83 appearances during his stay with the club, enjoying a loan spell at Guingamp in 2014/15.
Welcome to #SaintsFC, @JrmyPied! 😇 #SaintJérémy pic.twitter.com/SgaMX4tLQa
— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) August 1, 2016
Pied said: “I am very happy to be able to join this new team. I’m very proud. The English league is a very attractive one and it was a goal of mine to be able to play in it.
“I’m now very happy to join Southampton. You only have to look at the facilities and their results over the last few seasons to know that this is a very good Premier League club.”
Executive director of football Les Reed added: “The signing of Jeremy confirms the commitment of Southampton to succeed again in the Premier League and Europa League, as well as go for a run in the cup competitions.”
The double move takes Southampton’s tally of summer arrivals to four having previously signed winger Nathan Redmond, from Norwich, and Bayern Munich midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
