Tuesday 12 July 2016 08:02, UK
Graziano Pelle has joined Chinese club Shandong Luneng from Southampton for an undisclosed fee.
Sky Sports News HQ reported on Saturday that Italy striker Pelle was on his way to China, for a fee believed to be in the region of £13m, and Saints have now confirmed his departure.
The 30-year-old arrived at Southampton from Feyenoord for £8m in August 2014 and went on to score 30 goals in 81 appearances for the club.
Pelle impressed for Italy as they advanced to the quarter-finals of Euro 2016, scoring in the 2-0 group stage win over Belgium and the 2-0 victory against Spain in their last-16 clash.
He will now join up with fellow forward Papiss Cisse, who signed for Shandong from Newcastle for an undisclosed fee on Saturday.
Pelle becomes the latest high-profile player to leave the south coast club in recent weeks, after Victor Wanyama opted to join Tottenham and Sadio Mane made the move to Anfield to join Liverpool in a £34m transfer, with a possible £2m more to follow in add-ons.
Nathan Redmond will work under new Southampton manager Claude Puel after he joined from Norwich for £11m, however, while Bayern Munich midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg appears to be closing on a move to St Mary's.
