The man Southampton have elected to ‘monitor the market in Spain and Portugal’ has detailed the types of players he will be looking for moving forwards.
Jaime Ferrero joined the Saints this week from Atletico Madrid, with Southampton continuing to build on the football operation behind the scenes.
He arrives with a growing reputation from his time at the Wanda Metropolitano, slowly building his way up at the club until eventually being put in charge of scouting U19 players and taking charge of the club’s academy in China.
That eventually saw him expanding his searches to tracking youth or U23 players, which eventually put him on Southampton’s radar.
They brought him to the club this week to perform a similar task, with the club boasting a strong history of signing and developing young talents.
There is a long list of players who have enjoyed successful Premier League careers after either coming through Southampton’s ranks or developing at the club.
Indeed, the current first team has several such players and spent this summer signing the likes of Gavin Bazunu, Armel Bella-Kotchap and Roméo Lavia to add to their ranks of young players for the future.
It’s very much something the club prides itself on and Ferrero admits his focus is on identifying even more talent to bring to St Mary’s.
“I had a connection with Southampton in the summer, we met and I liked their philosophy,” he told Leon Noticias.
“They offered me this position to monitor the market in Spain and Portugal and now I want to feel what it’s like to be a ‘Saint’.
“The club’s philosophy is to go for players who haven’t reached their ceiling, who can be revalued, like goalkeeper Bazunu, Salisu, or Roméo Lavia. And to find players who can perform immediately in order to achieve our objectives. That’s what we’re looking for.”
