Player of the Week - Graziano Pellè

Pelle signs for Southampton!

No, it's not Brazilian legend - Pele, but Italian striker, Graziano Pelle, who arrived from Dutch club, Feyennoord, in the summer and has made a fantastic start to his Southampton career. Pelle now has 3 Premier League goals in his last 2 matches, after scoring a double to sink Newcastle United at St. Mary's stadium. With Pelle playing like his Brazilian namesake Southampton fans may soon forget about losing key players such as Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw, Rickie Lambert and Dejan Lovren. A lot of new players have also arrived at Southampton in the summer, including Dusan Tadic (FC Twente), Ryan Bertrand (Chelsea), Fraser Forster (Celtic), Toby Alderweireld (Atletico Madrid) and striker, Shane Long for a record fee of a reported £12 million. But it is Pelle who is making a name for himself at the moment and helping Southampton climb the Premier League table. One player who believes that all the transfers have had a positive effect on the team is Southampton and France midfielder, Morgan Schneiderlin:

"There were questions about why the club was selling players, but they brought in some quality players and you can argue now that the team is better than last year." Morgan Schneiderlin.

What do we know about Pelle?

Pelle was born in July 1985 in San Cesario di Lecce, a small town in the south-east of Italy. He signed for local Serie A club, US Lecce, but only made 12 appearances for the team in 3 seasons, and was loaned to three other Italian clubs between 2004 and 2007. In 2007, Pelle, who hadn't made a breakthrough in Italian football, decided to move abroad. He signed for AZ Alkmaar in the Netherlands, and scored 14 goals in 78 appearances. In 2011, he returned to Italy to sign for Serie A side, Parma.  After only 6 months he was sent on loan again, this time to Sampdoria and then in the summer of 2012, a return to the Netherlands with Feyenoord. After a season on loan with the Dutch giants, he was signed permanently. In total, he spent two seasons with Feyenoord and scored over 55 goals in only 66 appearances!

"I had Graziano in my team for my last two years at Feyenoord. He scored a lot of goals - more than 50 in two seasons!" Southampton manager, Ronald Koeman.

How will Pelle adapt to the Premier League?

Many pundits believe Pelle is perfect for the type of football that is played in England. He is 193cm tall and very strong, he can dominate defenders and is very good in the air. He is also very good with the ball at his feet and can score with either foot.Another reason why Pelle will do well in the Premier League is his manager, Ronald Koeman. Koeman was also Pelle's manager at Feyenoord so he knows how to get great performances from him. Finally, Pelle already speaks good English, so he should have no problems communicating with teammates on the pitch and adapting to life off the pitch. Check out the video of Pelle talking about his 2 goals against Newcastle at the end of this article.

What is Pelle looking forward to in the Premier League?

Graziano Pelle is fulfilling a childhood dream by playing in the Premier League. He has said that it was always one of his dreams to play in the Premier League from when he was young and watched Alan Shearer and Dennis Bergkamp scoring goals. He scored a lot of goals in Holland, but the level of football in England is different, although he hopes that he can score a lot of goals here too. 

"Last year, everyone in Europe was impressed by Southampton's performances, and it’s clear that the club is growing. It’s great to be here." Graziano Pelle.

Who do you want in your team? 

Pundits have claimed that in the last few weeks Pelle has been playing more like the Brazilian Pele. Have a look at the table below, could any modern day player score the quantity of goals that Pele managed in his career?

“We put in a really good performance, and 4-0 is a great result.” Graziano Pelle talking about Southampton's 4-0 win against Newcastle.

Watch a video of Pelle talking about his 2 goals against Newcastle and a good start to his career at Southampton. 

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Pelle signs for Southampton!

No, it's not Brazilian legend - Pele, but Italian striker, Graziano Pelle, who arrived from Dutch club, Feyennoord, in the summer and has made a fantastic start to his Southampton career. Pelle now has 3 Premier League goals in his last 2 matches, after scoring a double to sink Newcastle United at St. Mary's stadium. With Pelle playing like his Brazilian namesake we may see Southampton fans forget about losing key players such as Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw, Rickie Lambert and Dejan Lovren. A lot of new players have also arrived at Southampton in the summer, including Dusan Tadic (FC Twente), Ryan Bertrand (Chelsea), Fraser Forster (Celtic), Toby Alderweireld (Atletico Madrid) and striker, Shane Long for a record fee of a reported £12 million. But, it is Pelle who is making a name for himself at the moment and helping Southampton climb the Premier League table. One player who believes that all the transfers have had a positive effect on the team is Southampton and France midfielder, Morgan Schneiderlin:

"There were questions about why the club was selling players, but they brought in some quality players and you can argue now that the team is better than last year." Morgan Schneiderlin.

What do we know about Pelle?

Pelle was born in July 1985 in San Cesario di Lecce, a small town in the south-east of Italy. He signed for local Serie A club, US Lecce, but only made 12 appearances for the team in 3 seasons, and was loaned to three other Italian clubs between 2004 and 2007. In 2007, Pelle, having not made a breakthrough in Italian football, decided to move abroad. He signed for AZ Alkmaar in the Netherlands, and scored 14 goals in 78 appearances. In 2011, he returned to Italy to sign for Serie A side, Parma.  After only 6 months he was sent on loan again, this time to Sampdoria and then in the summer of 2012 a return to the Netherlands with Feyenoord. After a season on loan with the Dutch giants he was signed permanently. In total, he spent two seasons with Feyenoord and scored over 50 goals in only 57 appearances!

"I had Graziano in my team for my last two years at Feyenoord. He scored a lot of goals - more than 50 in two seasons!" Southampton manager, Ronald Koeman.

How will Pelle adapt to the Premier League?

Many pundits believe Pelle is perfect for the type of football that is played in England. He is 193cm tall and very strong, he can dominate defenders and is very good in the air. He is also very good with the ball at his feet and can score with either foot.Another reason why Pelle will do well in the Premier League is his manager, Ronald Koeman. Koeman was also Pelle's manager at Feyenoord so knows how to get great performances from him. Finally, Pelle already speaks good English, so he should have no problems communicating with teammates on the pitch and adapting to life off the pitch. Check out the video of Pelle talking about his 2 goals against Newcastle at the end of this article.

What is Pelle looking forward to in the Premier League?

Graziano Pelle is fulfilling a childhood dream by playing in the Premier League. He has said that it was always one of his dreams to play in the Premier League from when he was young and watched Alan Shearer and Dennis Bergkamp scoring goals. He scored a lot of goals in Holland, but the level of football in England is different, although he hopes that he can score a lot of goals here too. 

"Last year, everyone in Europe was impressed by Southampton's performances, and it’s clear that the club is growing. It’s great to be here." Graziano Pelle.

Who do you want in your team? 

Pundits have claimed that in the last few weeks Pelle has been playing more like the Brazilian Pele. Have a look at the table below, could any modern day player score the quantity of goals that Pele managed in his career?

 

Pele's Career Statistics

	Games	Goals	Honours
Pele	1366	1283	40

 

“We put in a really good performance, and 4-0 is a great result.” Graziano Pelle talking about Southampton's 4-0 win against Newcastle.

Watch a video of Pelle talking about his 2 goals against Newcastle and a good start to his career at Southampton. 

Activity 1: In this activity, try to answer the questions to show how much of the article you understand.

Match the information with the correct club or player.

Match up

Activity 2: There were lots of different clubs and players in the article. Can you match the right information to each club or player?

Did you know......?

• In 2012/13 at Feyenoord, Pelle became the highest scoring Italian goalscorer ever, in a league outside of Italy.
• Pelle can speak English, French and Spanish as well as his native Italian!
• Last season, Southampton bought another Italian striker, Dani Osvaldo, but he made only 13 appearances before moving back to Italy.
• Southampton's only major honour was in 1976, when they won the FA Cup.
• Southampton were originally called Southampton St, Mary's. Now, only their stadium is called St. Mary's.