Ronald Koeman has been appointed as Southampton's new boss on a three-year-deal.

The 51-year-old will replace Mauricio Pochettino in the St Mary's hotseat following his move to Premier League rivals Tottenham in May.

Southampton executive director Les Reed said in a statement: 'From the moment we met with Ronald, it was clear he had the vision and ambition to take our club forward, that he shared our football philosophy and could see the opportunity to move our club to the next level.

 

 

Pure joy: Koeman scored the only goal in the 1992 European Cup final for Barcelona against Sampdoria

 

'The club, the players and the fans will all be excited to have a man of Ronald's experience at the very highest level joining our club.

'Ronald's passion for the opportunity here at St Mary's was very clear, and we look forward to continuing our growth with him as part of our team.'

Upon moving to the south coast club Koeman, who stepped down from his role as manager at Dutch outfit Feyenoord after guiding them to second place in the Eredivisie last season, will bring his brother Erwin as assistant manager.

Koeman, who won the European Championship with Holland and the European Cup with PSV in 1988 and with Barcelona four years later as a player, has also managed Ajax, Benfica, PSV Eindhoven, Valencia and AZ Alkmaar.

He played 763 games for club and country, scoring 253 goals - including the winner for Barcelona against Sampdoria in the 1992 European Cup final at Wembley.

The Dutchman inherits a Saints side who finished eighth in the Premier League in the previous campaign.

One of his first tasks at Southampton will be to find a replacement for England international Rickie Lambert who signed for his boyhood club Liverpool in a £4million deal in May.

As well as replacing Lambert, Koeman will have a fight on his hands to keep intergral trio Luke Shaw, Dejan Lovren and captain Adam Lallana at the club - who have all been linked away with a move this summer.