Saints were today rushing through the signing of Molde utility player Jo Tessem in time for tomorrow's sell-out home game against Tottenham.

After a week of painstaking negotiations they agreed a fee of £600,000 for the 27-year-old who was flying from Norway early today.

He was due to have a hasty medical and hoped to complete formalities in time to join his new teammates for training this morning.

If the newcomer completed the deal by the noon deadline today, manager Dave Jones could pitch him straight into the team tomorrow in place of skipper Jason Dodd who had a knee operation just nine days ago.

Dodd was told he would be out of action for two or three weeks but has pushed himself towards a remarkable recovery and joined full training yesterday.

He has an outside chance of making the clash with Spurs but Saints won't want to take risks and so could opt for Tessem who can play anywhere down the right, in defence or midfield.

He played against Southampton in the 1-1 draw in pre-season and shone at right wing in the first half before turning in an even more impressive display at centre-back after the break.

Tessem showed then that he reads the game well, can pass the ball and is strong in the tackle.

He is also extremely quick for such a tall player and made it into the Champions League dream team from Molde's group.

Jones believes he has a bargain. The Dell boss said: "It has taken a lot of hard work but I am delighted we have got him. I just hope we can get everything done in time for tomorrow.

"He is six foot two but quick and strong. He is very versatile too. We have seen him do well against us in defence and at right wing but he can also play right-back or midfield.

"There were others interested which is why we had to keep the whole deal under wraps this week. But we did our homework and got in at the right time."

Jones enquired about him immediately after the pre-season friendly but the deal had to be put on ice until Molde had gone out of Europe.

His cause was not helped by the fact Molde beat CSKA Moscow 4-2 on aggregate with Tessem scoring one and they then got past Real Mallorca to reach the lucrative Champions League.

The team finished bottom of their pool but Tessem's displays caught the eye of Sunderland and Tottenham and Jones had to move swiftly to get in first.

Ironically Tessem is now likely to make his Saints debut against Spurs although Scott Hiley is standing by to replace Dodd if tomorrow's game comes just too soon for the new arrival, bringing Hiley up against David Ginola who gave him a torrid time in Tottenham's 3-0 win at white Hart Lane last season.

But Hiley would relish the opportunity to get revenge saying: "It is players like Ginola that you want to pit your wits against. At the moment it is one up to him but I would like to get my own back."

Hiley could even be kept out by Dod''s remarkable recovery. The skipper rejoined said: "I trained yesterday and it felt a bit sore afterwards. If it is still painful tomorrow it would be silly to play and risk putting myself out for longer. But if it settles I might just be OK. I have worked really hard but it is still only ten days since I had the operation."

Mark Hughes has recovered from a dead leg so Jones has to decide whether to keep him up front or drop him back to midfield with James Beattie in contention for a recall in attack.

Claus Lundekvam has shaken off the hamstring tweak which forced him to turn down a sudden call-up for Norway last week-end.

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