RONALD Koeman has declared himself happy with Saints' Europa League draw against Vitesse - even though it is the toughest tie they could have been handed on paper.

Today's draw pitted the club against the Dutch side in the third qualifying round, with the first leg at St Mary's scheduled for Thursday, July 30, before a trip to the GelreDome, in Arnhem, a week later.

It is a particularly special tie for Koeman, as it was Vitesse where he gained his first job as a head coach, taking charge of them from January 2000 to December 2001.

And the Saints boss is pleased that, with the squad heading out to the Netherlands today for a week of pre-season preparations, they will have an ideal build-up for the encounter.

“I make already a joke before the draw that I said maybe we will go back to Holland after our next week – what we go for the pre-season," he said in an interview with the club's YouTube channel.

"It’s ok, it’s a good draw. We play against a good team, at least a team who likes to play football and, ok, we will see what happens."

Koeman added: “In the possibilities that we had to draw maybe it’s the worst of that, but, ok, that means European League football and we have to show that we are a better team than Vitesse, and for that we have two games.

“Ok, now we can say we go to Holland and it’s a good preparation. We get a view about the Dutch league, the Dutch level. It’s nice, because it was my first club starting coaching as a head coach and that’s nice to come back."