BRETT Ormerod's £1.75 million move to Southampton has been completed and he is likely to go straight into the Saints squad for Saturday's crunch six-pointer at Leicester.

The 20-goal striker succesfully passed a medical and has finalised the deal to become Gordon Strachan's first cash signing.

An he has been tipped for the top by superscout Harry McNally, the man who discovered the ace goalscorer.

The former Seasiders chief scout has no doubts the whole-hearted striker will be a Premier hit and said: "He will do well in the Premiership.

"I am not going to say he is a Manchester United or a Liverpool player, but he will do well in the bottom half of the Premiership. There are a lot of players worse than Brett in there.

"He's not going to be able to keep Southampton up single-handedly - he will need help around him.

"But, if he gets that support, he will do well."

McNally discovered Ormerod when the striker was a 20-year-old front man for Accrington Stanley.

He said: "We got some info about this boy playing for Accrington Stanley and I went to have a look at him.

"I saw him score a goal. The ball was crossed in and he was so brave the way he dived in.

"He got clattered and carried off on a stretcher but he'd scored the goal. I said then: 'That'll do for me'.

"As well as the goal, he was a thorn in the defenders' side all through the game.

"I recommended him to Gary Megson, who always took my advice, and Black-pool signed him for £50,000."

McNally says Ormerod has continued to improve during his time with Pool under Megson, Nigel Worthington and most recently Steve McMahon.

He added: "Brett has got better and better. The thing about him - and I have watched him in depth in the last six months - is that his all-round game has improved. He's an all-round striker now.

"He's always been brave and quick, but a natural footballer. Now he works the line as well and works defenders."

McNally, who has just gone back to Stockport as chief scout after time as a talent spotter for previous Leicester boss Peter Taylor, says if Taylor was still in charge of the Foxes, Ormerod may well have been on his way to Filbert Street.

"Until a few weeks ago, I was working for Leicester. I recommended him so many times to them.

"If Peter Taylor had still been there, he'd have been trying to get him. The only problem might have been money."

BRETT ORMEROD FACTFILE

Born: Blackburn, October 18, 1976.

Height: 5ft 11in.

Weight: 11st 4lb.

This season: 20 goals, 3 yellow cards.

TOTAL: Made 151 appearances for Blackpool, 62 goals.

Brett is a committed and hard working striker who joined the Seasiders from non-league Accrington Stanley for £50,000 in 1997.

He started the 1999-2000 season in great form scoring five goals in the first 14 games before suffering a broken leg in the 2-0 victory over Wycombe Wanderers on October 23, 1999.

Brett had a great 2000/2001 season as he and John Murphy formed a great partnership, with Ormerod bagging 17 goals.

He scored some very important goals including two in each of the play-off semi-final legs against Hartlepool and the last goal in the Division Three play-off final against Leyton Orient at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, which Blackpool won 4-2 to earn promotion.