Dusan Tadic: A Serbian Touch Of Class For Southampton's Midfield Line

Earlier this month, the Saints announced the arrival of a footballer coming in from Twente, who may certainly be their signing of the Summer. Dusan Tadic, a Serbian midfielder of extraordinary quality, arrived from the former Dutch champions for an amount around £11 million, in order to offer Southampton’s midfield and forward lines the quality boost that the team sometimes failed to display last season.

Last season’s Southampton team is being completely ripped apart by the departure of some of their most influential players, such as Rickie Lambert, Dejan Lovren, Adam Lallana, and Luke Shaw. If that wasn’t enough for their newly arrived manager, Ronald Koeman, the hard working French midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin also seems to have his bags already packed to join the Spurs in the following weeks. Koeman will have, so to speak, to rebuild his team from scratch and the arrival of someone as incredibly talented as Dusan Tadic will certainly help him to achieve his intents.

The 25-year old Serbian playmaker is a “product” of FK Vojvodina players’ factory and was part of that historical Balkan team for eight years before trying his luck at Groningen back in 2010. Tadic played for the green and white team for two season, until 2012 when he joined Twente for somewhat around £6 million. His career with the 2010 Dutch champions has been fairly impressive and Ronald Koeman was able to witness that since he was Feyenoord's head coach for the last three years.

Tadic is one of those footballers one can label as an old school number 10, which plays behind the forwards and “feeds” them killing balls. His refined passing and dribbling skills allow him to assume several different roles in the midfield line and, from advanced playmaker to attacking midfielder, he seems to know it all. Tadic’s creativity and vision are also some of his trademarks and his influence on the team is utterly remarkable, as he can easily “carry them on his back” when they need him.

Southampton displayed some quality football last season and it is fair to say that they were one of the most impressive teams at the English Premier League during the previous campaign. Nevertheless, the departure of Pochettino might have left behind a void difficult to fill and Ronald Koeman is certainly not expecting an easy life at St. Mary’s Stadium this term. Nevertheless, and no matter how herculean his task might look from distance, if he keeps bringing in quality players such as Tadic and Graziano Pellè, his chances of success will surely increase.