Saints today received another major boost when rising star Wayne Bridge became the latest player to commit his long-term future to the club.

Bridge has signed a new four-year deal to follow the example of Marian Pahars who last week agreed a similar extension. It means Saints now have two of their brightest young prospects tied up until June 2004.

The pay rise is the perfect birthday present for Bridge who will be 20 on Saturday and who is rapidly emerging as a bright young talent.

He came on strongly in the second half of the season and made the left-back slot his own with a fine string of displays culminating in the the Echo/Courage Player of the Month award for April and his first senior goal against Wimbledon on the final day.

Chairman Rupert Lowe is determined to get the club's best young players signed up long-term and he is delighted that Bridge has agreed terms.

He said: "It is another great piece of news that Wayne Bridge has committed himself to the club for a further four years.

"Everybody knows, this season in particular is an extremely important one in the history of the club and Wayne will be playing an instrumental part in that. He is a fine, young talent and represents the future of Southampton."

l Saints unhappy winger Luis Boa Morte has joined Fulham on a year's loan - and celebrated by scoring both goals in his new side's 2-0 win at Brentford.

The Portuguese under-21 international agreed the deal with Cottagers boss Jean Tigana after impressing during the side's pre-season training camp in France a couple of weeks ago.

And Saints missed out on the signing of Romanian Dan Petrescu when he turned down an £800,000 move to The Dell in favour of Bradford.

Saints had agreed a fee with Chelsea but had to withdraw when the 32-year-old wing-back demanded terms which would have made him by far the club's highest paid player.

Saints salvaged a draw in their fourth warm-up game at Reading with a last-gasp equaliser from substitute Garry Monk. Jason Dodd and Marian Pahars picked up calf injuries while Uwe Rosler received a dead leg.

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