Southampton manager Claude Puel firmly thinks that Alex McCarthy and Jeremy Pied will be very important additions to the club in the coming season.
Both players completed their moves to the club earlier this week, with goalkeeper McCarthy signed from Crystal Palace while defender Pied arrived on a free transfer from Nice.
Important signings
The Saints boss told the club's official website: “It’s important for the squad to take these players.”
McCarthy is a very “experienced” and “good” goalkeeper, he said, and believes it is important to have a goalkeeper that gives the Saints and their players the best “opportunity” to be successful in retaining “good results".
“Jérémy Pied is a good player, in the profile of Cédric Soares, with good technique and good quality of course,” he added.
Pied is a right-back who makes plenty of assists and is very solid in defence, with Puel pleased to see him once more.
Continuing the partnership
Pied previously played under the new Saints boss at both Lyon and Nice. He signed a two-year contract at St Mary’s on Monday, to link him to his former manager for a third time in his career.
He made his debut on loan from Lyon at Metz before finally breaking into Puel’s team back in 2010. He then joined Nice two years later, playing three seasons as a first-team regular.
It followed the signing earlier in the day of McCarthy, which saw him pen a three-year deal at the Saints.
The goalkeeper made only seven appearances between the sticks for Palace in his first season after joining from QPR, but knows he can stake his claim at St Mary’s.
The double signings on Monday takes Southampton’s summer arrivals to four after announcements of winger Nathan Redmond from Norwich City and Bayern Munich midfielder Pierre-Emile Højbjerg.