Southampton have completed the signing of Gaston Ramirez from Bologna for a club record £15 million, but the Saints have had a bid rejected by Blackburn for full-back Martin Olsson. Gaston Ramirez has become Southampton’s record signing(Picture: Getty Images) Ramirez’s arrival marks a notable coup for newly promoted Southampton, who have twice broken their own transfer record this summer, and successfully fended off interest from Liverpool, Tottenham and Inter Milan for the 21-year-old. But the transfer was not always plan sailing, with the deal initially breaking down last week, when Southampton failed to agree terms to buy the final 30% of his ownership from former club Penarol. However, Southampton eventually agreed a £15 million package, with £12 million going to Bologna, while Penarol will receive £3 million. The deal was finally completed this evening, when Ramirez was successfully awarded a work permit, and manager Nigel Adkins was clearly delighted with his newest acquisition: ‘A lot of hard work has gone in from the Football Club with a lot of negotiations behind the scenes to get this deal done,’ Adkins told Southampton’s website. ‘The Chairman has gone and backed this deal big-time with the financial outlay, and what we have got is one of the most exciting prospects in world football coming to St Mary’s.’ Southampton have had little luck landing the final part of their transfer jigsaw though, with a deal for a left-back still far from completion, after Blackburn rejected their £3 million offer for Olsson. Sweden international Olsson is desperate to quit relegated Blackburn this summer, and also has interest from West Brom, Sunderland and Wigan, but all are looking at other options. Check out our latest daily transfer gossip live blog

A news article on 2012-08-31 19:29:00 from: The Metro

Read the full article here.

This news item has been reproduced from today’s media. It does not necessarily represent the opinion of Kop That.