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Southampton have secured the signing of highly-rated 17-year-old Yunus Linton from Chelsea

Southampton have secured the signing of highly-rated Moroccan youth international Yunus Linton on his first professional deal from Chelsea.

As we head into the first international break of the season, Southampton find themselves in the bottom half of the Championship table, albeit with their four-point deduction. Without it, they'd be in the top four.

A loss at Wrexham means Tonda Eckert's side go into this three-week gap between fixtures mulling over a defeat and still winless on the road this season. With four wins from four and 15 goals scored at St Mary's so far this year, it's evident where the Saints need to improve.

In the meantime, though, the focus shifts to off-field activity. Southampton are waiting with bated breath for the outcome of the FA charge against Tonda Eckert for the role he played in the Spygate scandal, but away from the first team, the under-18s side has been given a boost.

Southampton secure Yunus Linton deal

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Southampton have fought off interest from the likes of Brentford, Monaco and Lille over the signing of 17-year-old attacking midfielder Yunus Linton.

Linton has signed the first professional deal of his career at St Mary's, which will see him contracted on the south coast until 2029.

The 17-year-old was on the books at Chelsea, where he represented England at various youth levels, including under-15s, and was part of the Blues squad in various games in the U18 Premier League this season.

However, he's just earned his first call-up to the Moroccan Under-17 side this month, and has followed that up with a switch to St Mary's, where he'll link up with Adam Surman's under-18s side, who currently sit 3rd in the U18 Premier League.

Southampton board members excited over capturing young prospect

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Evidently, those in charge of youth development at St Mary's are very excited about getting the deal over the line.

Linton was not only playing a part in the Chelsea side who are defending their U18 Premier League title this year, but his links to other top-flight European sides further outline how highly regarded the 17-year-old is within footballing circles.

"Yunus is another exciting addition to our PDP programme, providing greater depth of competition," Andy Goldie, Southampton's Director of group talent strategy, said.

"He is a different profile to what we have in the pathway, and he's an exciting young talent who has developed outside the academy system.

"He had attracted strong interest from other Premier League and European clubs for his signature, so it's great credit to our talent recruitment teams. We were able to

win the race for his signature, and we now look forward to supporting the next stages of his development at Staplewood."

Yunus Linton will be one to watch at Southampton over the coming years

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Southampton are thought of as having one of the best academies outside of the generic 'big six.'

From the likes of Alan Shearer and Matt Le Tissier in the 1980s, to Gareth Bale and Theo Walcott in the mid-2000s and James Ward-Prowse in the more recent years, a plethora of top talent who went on to become some of the biggest names in English football came through at Staplewood.

Linton came off the bench for his Southampton under-18s debut on Saturday, as the Saints slumped to their second league defeat of the campaign against Reading. Nevertheless, they sit 3rd in the southern section of the U18 Premier League, scoring 21 times in six games.

Once the attacking midfielder is back from international duty, the Moroccan will definitely be contributing to that strong attack, and with Southampton's track record of giving young academy prospects a chance, it may not be long until Linton is in and around the first-team squad for sporadic games, if he progresses as expected.