Transfer window round-up: Southampton FC

With Southampton sitting in a fantastic position in the Championship with over half the season gone, but having been in poor form throughout December, the January transfer window was a chance for the club to reinforce the squad in an attempt to return to the Premier League for the first time since relegation in 2005. Here is a round up of the ins and outs at St Mary’s Stadium:

Players In

Tanadari Lee

Tanadari became the first Japanese player to sign for Southampton when he joined on a free transfer from Sanfrecce Hiroshima. A Japanese international, Lee came to prominence with an extra time winner against Australia in the Asian Cup, the Asian equivelant of the European Championships. He will take time to adapt as the J-League is very different to the English Championship, but will hope to play a large part in attempting to reach the Premier League with Saints.

Billy Sharp

Signed for around £1.8m from Doncaster Rovers, Sharp has scored an impressive 40 goals in 81 Championship games in the past two and a half seasons. Now reunited with his former boss at Scunthorpe, Nigel Adkins, Sharp is likely to line up alongside Rickie Lambert in a no-nonsense Northern forward line that is likely to strike fear into defenders all over the country.

Yago Falque

Falque is a player who has certainly been given the best possible start to a footballing career, having spent 7 years in the Barcelona youth academy before having loan spells at various clubs to gain first team experience, with Southampton being the latest. A tricky player who can play anywhere across the forward line, it is expected he will mainly provide backup on the flanks. He joins on loan until the end of the season from Tottenham Hotspur.

Jason Puncheon

Although not exactly a new signing, Jason Puncheon deserves a mention having finally been welcomed back into the first team fold, having been frozen out for almost a year due to rumoured bust ups with various members in the clubs hierarchy. With Steve De Ridder having been fairly inconsistent, and seemingly out of favour with Adkins, Puncheon could play a vital role in gunning for promotion, having proved his qualities at this level and above following successful loan moves at Millwall and Blackpool last season.

Players Out

Jonathan Forte

With only a couple of League Cup games to his name from early on in the season, it comes as no surprise that Jonathan Forte has left on loan to Notts County until the end of the season. Although probably never good enough for Saints, and unlikely to make another appearance for the club, he will be remembered with affection following his cameo from the bench against MK Dons in April 2011, when he came off the bench to score 2 goals and help inspire an struggling Saints side losing 2-0 to a 3-2 win, in a game many fans saw as the turning point in the successful promotion campaign to the Championship.