Southampton have snapped up Crystal Palace defender Nathaniel Clyne on a four-year contract.
The deal comes as a bit of a coup for the Saints, who will be delighted to have captured a player who has been dubbed ‘a right-sided Ashley Cole’.
Contract
Clyne, 21, was out of contract, so no transfer fee was required, but the Premier League newcomers will have to pay compensation as the player is under 24-years-old.
The right-back cited the club’s ambition to push for European football as a key factor in his decision to join.
Clyne did not make this year’s GB team for the Olympics, as Stuart Pearce opted for the experience of Micah Richards, but Clyne has been touted as a very attacking full-back, who possesses great pace and can defend well too.
Awards
In the 2010–11 season, Clyne won Crystal Palace’s Player of the Year award, and was named in the Championship team of the year last season, as well as recently breaking into the England U21 set-up.
Speaking from Southampton’s training camp in the French Alps, Clyne said: “It’s a club with a lot of ambition – the gaffer told me that they would want to be pushing for European football.
“We’ve got good players here – a young bunch of good, talented players who are destined for the top, so I don’t see why we can’t do it.”
DUST. 