Daily Echo:

Mauricio Pellegrino will today meet members of his Saints squad for the first time as the build-up to the new Premier League season begins in earnest.

The 45-year-old, who was confirmed as the new Saints manager last Friday, has arrived in England having been back home in Argentina when the official announcement was made.

After settling in at Staplewood he will meet a host of players for the first time, as they return for pre-season fitness testing.

While Saints’ international stars will not be reporting back until they have completed a month’s holiday, those who ended their season with the final game of the last Premier League campaign on May 21 are due to return.

The likes of Oriol Romeu, Virgil van Dijk and Shane Long will be among those heading back to work, albeit just to get their testing done before another few days off ahead of pre-season proper commencing next week.

For Pellegrino it is a first chance to impress.

When the players headed off Claude Puel was still Saints boss, but another summer has seen another change at the helm of the team, and Pellegrino will be keen to make an immediate impact.

He is already having to deal with transfer issues with Jay Rodriguez edging nearer a move to West Brom, while Jan Bednarek is expected to complete his signing imminently.

Both of those deals were well in the pipeline before Pellegrino was appointed, but nonetheless all transfer moves will be run past him.

Pellegrino led Alaves to the Copa del Rey final last season, and had previously coached under Rafael Benitez at both Liverpool and Inter Milan.

Speaking yesterday, Saints’ vice-chairman of football Les Reed said he expects Southampton to be proactive in the transfer mark as Pellegrino weighs up his options going forwards.

He said: "We track players over years and when the new manager comes in like Mauricio, we take him through that process.

"He had done his homework on our squad and we don't believe we need to turn over players every year just to freshen things up.

"We've got a strong squad now and it would be about adding players bringing more value and power. It's not broken so there is no need to bring in players just because of fashion or to get people excited in the transfer market."