Southampton Football Club announced the permanent transfer of Israeli goalkeeper Daniel Peretz from Bayern Munich on a four-year contract. The 25-year-old enjoyed a highly successful loan spell at St Mary\u2019s following his January arrival from the German giants, helping transform Saints\u2019 defensive record and playing an influential role as Tonda Eckert\u2019s team ended the season 21 Sky Bet Championship matches unbeaten.<\/p>\n
Peretz played every minute of that run, keeping eight clean sheets along the way and also produced memorable performances against Premier League sides Fulham, Arsenal and Manchester City as Saints reached the Emirates FA Cup semi-finals.<\/p>\n
Beginning his career with Maccabi Tel Aviv, where he played more than 100 times, Peretz made seven appearances for Bayern as understudy to Manuel Neuer, his childhood hero, learning his trade from one of the all-time great goalkeepers. He made a total of 26 appearances for Saints in all competitions following his mid-season arrival last term, adjusting impressively to the relentless Championship schedule and finishing on the losing side on only two occasions.<\/p>\n
On deciding to make his St Mary\u2019s switch permanent, Daniel Peretz said, \u201cI\u2019m super excited. For the last few months this was my home and we had so many good times and also some tense times, but even in the last few weeks with how we stayed together you could really feel this home environment. That was, for me, the dealbreaker. Yes, it is my dream to play in the Premier League and on the highest stages in the world, but a bigger dream for me is to be there with Southampton. I really believe that we can be there and achieve that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Group Technical Director Johannes Spors added, \u201cWe knew about Daniel\u2019s qualities when we signed him on loan in January, and his impact on the team was clear for everybody to see. He has a confidence in his own ability that transmits to the players in front of him. I had several conversations with Daniel after our season came to an end. It was clear throughout these discussions that he remained committed to us, even with other options on the table. We are delighted to welcome him back to Southampton on a long-term contract and determined to build on the successes we experienced together last season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peretz\u2019s decision to stay wasn\u2019t an obligation in the previous loan agreement, but \u201csince I came here, I felt so good in the club,\u201d was his assertive explanation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe environment with the players in the dressing room, with the coaching staff, the coach himself, all the board and the owner, the fans especially, and all the workers in the club. When you come every day, you really feel this home environment. I keep saying it again and again, but that was, for me, the deal breaker.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, I have my dream to play in the Premier League and in the highest stages in the world, but a bigger dream for me is to be there with Southampton. I really believe that we can be there and achieve that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peretz also spoke about his feelings of making an impact on a day in and day out basis with the club, \u201cFrom the first week I saw how good it felt for me and how I was able to influence the team. I was able to play every three days and I wanted to play every game and it felt really good with our run. We had good games and bad games but we were together with the team. I said that this is why I do, what I am doing. There were so many emotions along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Looking ahead to the upcoming 2026\/27 campaign, the 25-year-old reiterated his belief in promotion to the top flight, but insisted on togetherness both on and off the pitch to achieve it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the biggest message for this season is we will be united and positive, because we need every single bit to [get promoted]. This is our aim, this is our goal, but to do it again we need everyone together. It’s an even bigger challenge, but the bigger the challenge is, the sweeter the feeling afterwards so we will need everything. We’ll need everyone on board and every single fan, every single worker in the club, with the energy and the hard work to do everything for the club to achieve it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peretz also spoke about the fact that the club were penalized due to a saying incident ahead of the play-off semi-final between Middlesbrough and Southampton, \u201cThe last few weeks were not easy for anyone. I’m sure for the fans it was really difficult, to the owner, to the coach, to the staff, to the players, but again, we are here to overturn the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will go again. We will go again and we will do it, because we are stronger after everything that happened in the last few weeks. It will make us stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Southampton Football Club announced the permanent transfer of Israeli goalkeeper Daniel Peretz from Bayern Munich on a four-year contract. The 25-year-old enjoyed a highly successful loan spell at St Mary\u2019s following his January arrival from the German giants, helping transform Saints\u2019 defensive record and playing an influential role as Tonda Eckert\u2019s team ended the season […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":175594,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[5194,7068],"class_list":["post-180857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football-israel-2","tag-daniel-peretz","tag-southampton","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n