OFFICIAL: Southampton confirms Djuričić loan deal

Southampton has officially confirmed the signing of Serbian international Filip Djuričić on loan until the end of the season from Benfica.

The 23-year old spend the first half of the season on loan at Mainz 05 in the Bundesliga, but he failed to make much of an impression and will be hoping to kickstart his career in England.

Djuričić started his career in his native country, Serbia, with Radnički Obrenovac and Red Star Belgrade youth teams. He then went to Olympiacos but returned to Obrenovac after a season.

Then came a move to Eredivisie as he joined SC Heerenveen in January 2010, where he made 99 appearances and scoring 20 goals before moving to Portugal with Benfica.

At Benfica, he helped them won the league and two domestic cup competitions making 22 appearances across all competitions.

Boss Ronald Koeman was pleased with the signing of Djuričic and this is what he had to say about the midfielder:

"He had some good games, there was a lot of interest in the player when he was at Heerenveen. He moved to Portugal and now it’s a good chance for the player to develop himself.

"It’s a young player, he’s 23 years old, he’s technical, fast and he can play in different positions in the midfield. He can play on the left side and the right side.

"It’s part of the philosophy of the club; young players. He was in a difficult situation, he was on loan at Mainz and we will take him on loan for the rest of the season.

"It’s a good possibility for him, and for us it’s one more player who can play in different positions. It’s always best for the coach to have more possibilities in players who can change positions.

"The last few weeks we have had problems to score goals, like Sunday. We created good opportunities and you have to score, always it’s easy to have really good competition."

According to Sky Sports, Southampton has the option to sign Djuričić permanently for a fee of £9m in the summer, but this has yet to be confirmed.

Djuričić, a teammate of Dušan Tadić in the Serbian national team, could make his debut in Southampton's next game against QPR.