Ryan Dickson has today been unveiled as Southampton's first signing of the summer. Ryan has spoken with Andy Scott and who had this to say about his transfer "Whilst I am extremely disappointed to have lost Ryan, I am comfortable that the Club made every effort to secure an extension to his contract. Once a player has another club in his ear it becomes more a competition of who can get furthest first and Ryan obviously feels that Southampton offer him that chance. Whilst I can understand his reasons I do not share the same opinion and remain genuinely excited about our ambitions.

I believe that in the time he has been here under our tuition at Griffin Park he has matured into one of the best full backs in League One with the potential to play at the highest level. I wish Ryan well and look forward to welcoming him back to Griffin Park next season"

Brentford Football Club`s Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Mills added "We believe the fee will be set by tribunal after Southampton tabled a take it or leave it full and final offer that fall's considerably short of our expectations. We remain comfortable that the tribunal will see the undoubted effort that was put into genuinely trying to persuade Ryan to stay with us for what promises to be an extremely exciting couple of years whilst also taking into account the scale of our offer as clear confirmation of Ryan's progress and development over the past couple of seasons."

The 23 year old defender made 105 appearances for the Club since signing for them from Plymouth Argyle in January 2008 following a successful two month loan period.