Southampton have named Swansea boss Russell Martin as their new manager.

The 37-year-old replaces Ruben Selles who left the club at the end of last season following their relegation from the Premier League.

Martin, who guided the Swans to 10th in the Championship in 2022-23, has signed a three-year deal at St Mary's until 2026.

"My aim is to get this club back where it belongs - in the top flight of English football," Martin said.

"I am ready for this challenge and will give everything to achieve this aim and to give the supporters a team that makes them proud. "I'm thrilled to be here and cannot wait for the work to begin."

It is understood Martin had agreed to become Southampton boss in May but the move was held up by a dispute over compensation to Swansea.

The Swans are hoping to name Barnsley boss Michael Duff as their new manager reports BBC Sport Wales.

"Russell was the stand-out candidate throughout our recruitment process," Southampton chairman Henrik Kraft said.

"We are confident his strong track record, alongside the experienced leadership of our new director of football, Jason Wilcox, will deliver great results."

Southampton finished bottom of the Premier League in May, ending their 11-year stay in the top flight.

They went through three managers last season with Ralph Hasenhuttl's replacement Nathan Jones only lasting 95 days before he was sacked in February.

Spaniard Selles came in later that month but could not haul Saints out of the drop zone.

https://www.expressandstar.com/sport/foo...vers-trip/

August
August 5 - Blackburn (a)
August 12 - Swansea (h)
August 19 - Leeds (a)
August 26 - Middlesbrough (h)

September
2 - Huddersfield (h)
16 - Bristol City (a)
20 - Watford (a)
23 - Millwall (h)
30 - Preston (a)

October
October 3 - Sheffield Wednesday (h)
October 7 - Birmingham (a)
October 21 - Plymouth (h)
October 24 - QPR (h)
October 28 - Coventry (a)

November
November 4 - Hull (h)
November 11 - Southampton (a)
November 25 - Ipswich (h)
November 28 - Cardiff (a)

December
December 2 - Leicester (h)
December 9 - Sunderland (a)
December 12 - Rotherham (a)
December 16 - Stoke (h)
December 23 - Middlesbrough (a)
December 26 - Norwich (h)
December 29 - Leeds (h)

January
January 1 - Swansea (a)
January 13 - Blackburn (h)
January 20 - Norwich (a)
January 27 - Plymouth (a)

February
February 3 - Birmingham (h)
February 10 - Ipswich (a)
February 14 - Cardiff (h)
February 17 - Southampton (h)
February 24 - Hull (a)

March
March 2 - Coventry (h)
March 6 - QPR (a)
March 9 - Huddersfield (a)
March 16 - Bristol City (h)
March 29 - Millwall (a)

April
April 1 - Watford (h)
April 6 - Stoke (a)
April 10 - Rotherham (h)
April 13 - Sunderland (h)
April 20 - Leicester (a)
April 27 - Sheffield Wednesday (a)

May
May 4 - Preston (h)

Tom Naylor has signed on a 3 year deal on a free from Wigan Athletic. This is a very very good signing for us and one which will help us in our bid for promotion back to the football league. He played nearly every game for Wigan last season in the Championship.

We need a striker, goalkeeper and I reckon another centre-back.

Hull City midfielder Regan Slater has signed a new three-year contract.

The 23-year-old made 46 appearances in the 2022-23 season and won the club's players' player and supporters' player of the year awards.

"I'm buzzing. It's great to be rewarded for all the hard work I've put in," he told BBC Radio Humberside.

"I'm looking to kick on and I feel like I've improved every season I've been here and the manager can get the best out of me."

He added: "The aim is to win as many games as we can and hopefully that takes us to where we want to be.

"We need to be ruthless. There were a lot of games last season where we were arguably the better team but we didn't come out on top."

Watford have signed striker Rhys Healey following the expiry of his contract with French club Toulouse.

Healey missed much of last season following a serious knee injury but returned to score twice in four games at the end of it.

He joined Toulouse in the summer of 2020 after scoring 11 goals in 19 league games for MK Dons in the previous campaign.

The 28-year-old has agreed a two-year deal at Vicarage Road.

And he is Watford's first signing since Valerien Ismael became head coach.

The Hornets finished 11th in the Championship in 2022-23, six points outside the play-off places, and have since sold Brazilian forward Joao Pedro to Brighton for a fee of just under £30m.

Healey began his career at Cardiff City and had a series of loan spells at clubs including Colchester, Dundee and Newport County, before signing for MK Dons.

Following his move to France, he scored 15 goals in his first season and 20 in 32 games in his second as Toulouse were promoted to Ligue 1.

Reading have confirmed strikers George Puscas and Yakou Meite will both leave the club this summer.

Puscas, 27, has completed a permanent move to Serie A side Genoa for an undisclosed fee after spending last season on loan there.

Meanwhile, 27-year-old Meite has rejected a new contract offer following their relegation to League One.

The Ivory Coast international signed in 2016 and made 165 appearances for the Royals, scoring 47 goals.

Puscas played for Reading 90 times, scoring 20 goals after signing from Inter Milan in 2019.

The Romanian helped Genoa achieve promotion from Serie B as he scored four goals in 25 appearances.

He last featured for the Royals in January 2022 and spent the second half of that season on loan at Pisa.

Meite signed from Paris Saint-Germain but initially struggled to break into the first team, spending 2017-18 on loan at French side Sochaux.

The forward scored four goals last season after missing the majority of the 2021-2022 campaign due to a cruciate ligament injury.

Hibs drawn v Vikingur (Faroes) or Inter Club D'Escaldes (Andorra)

Quali-ties will take place on 27 July and 3 August.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65894218

Rodgers finally arrives at Celtic Park and becomes the highest paid Celtic manager in Scot footie history. He'll have thrashed out a common agreement re his player budget required to give them a decent chance in their UEFA Champs League group next season. No doubt, there will be lotsa activity in the transfer market in the weeks ahead. Also John Kennedy "staying put" and ditto re the position of Gavin Strachan.