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Report: Southampton's Pelle set for £13M China move

Darren Staples / Reuters

To see a list of completed deals in the summer window thus far, visit theScore's Premier League transfer tracker.

Graziano Pelle is believed to be on the verge of switching Southampton for the cash-rich Chinese Super League.

The Press Association states that the south coast club would turn a £9 million profit on the striker who will turn 31 next week. He joined from Feyenoord two years ago for just £4 million.

The Apulia native is coming off the back of a successful Euro 2016 campaign, where he bagged two goals over four outings in a fine run to the quarter-finals. He was touted to follow national team boss Antonio Conte into his new job at Chelsea, but Pelle has instead had his head turned by a lucrative move to Asia.

There is a belief that the transfer to China became a possibility in the winter, hence the signing of Charlie Austin and it coinciding with the return to fitness of Jay Rodriguez. Shane Long also shouldered a more prominent role in the starting XI as the 2015-16 campaign wore on.

The club that Pelle is cited to be joining is Shandong Luneng, the Jinan-based outfit that recruited Papiss Cisse from Newcastle United on Saturday. The team is managed by Felix Magath, the three-time Bundesliga winner during stints overseeing Bayern Munich and VfL Wolfsburg.

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