Brett Ormerod has been tipped for Premiership stardom with Saints as he prepares to complete a £1.75 million move from Blackpool.

The 20-goal striker had a medical last night and was today finalising the deal to become Gordon Strachan's first cash signing.

He is now likely to go straight into the squad for Saturday's crunch six-pointer at Leicester but he has already been hailed as a surefire success by superscout Harry McNally, the man who discovered the ace goalscorer.

The former Seasiders chief scout has no doubts the whole-hearted striker will be a Premier hit and said: "He will do well in the Premiership.

"I am not going to say he is a Manchester United or a Liverpool player, but he will do well in the bottom half of the Premiership. There are a lot of players worse than Brett in there.

"He's not going to be able to keep Southampton up single-handedly - he will need help around him.

"But, if he gets that support, he will do well."

McNally discovered Ormerod when the striker was a 20-year-old front man for Accrington Stanley.

He said: "We got some info about this boy playing for Accrington Stanley and I went to have a look at him.

"I saw him score a goal. The ball was crossed in and he was so brave the way he dived in.

"He got clattered and carried off on a stretcher but he'd scored the goal. I said then: 'That'll do for me'.

"As well as the goal, he was a thorn in the defenders' side all through the game.

"I recommended him to Gary Megson, who always took my advice, and Black-pool signed him for £50,000."

McNally says Ormerod has continued to improve during his time with Pool under Megson, Nigel Worthington and most recently Steve McMahon.

He added: "Brett has got better and better. The thing about him - and I have watched him in depth in the last six months - is that his all-round game has improved. He's an all-round striker now.

"He's always been brave and quick, but a natural footballer. Now he works the line as well and works defenders."

McNally, who has just gone back to Stockport as chief scout after time as a talent spotter for previous Leicester boss Peter Taylor, says if Taylor was still in charge of the Foxes, Ormerod may well have been on his way to Filbert Street.

"Until a few weeks ago, I was working for Leicester. I recommended him so many times to them.

"If Peter Taylor had still been there, he'd have been trying to get him. The only problem might have been money."

Ironically Ormerod could now make his debut for Saints against Leicester in a game neither side can afford to lose.