Saints have snapped up another promising youngster for their flourishing academy by signing 17-year old midfielder Jonathan Mills from Oxford.

The club have paid a nominal sum up front and the fee could eventually reach £300,000 if he goes on to play for the first team.

Kid Mills signed to academyfrom the Manor

Saints have snapped up another promising youngster for their flourishing academy by signing 17-year-old midfielder Jonathan Mills from Oxford.

The club have paid a nominal sum up front and the fee could eventually reach £300,000 if he goes on to play for the first team.

Recruitment officer Malcolm Elias first signed Mills as a ten-year-old at The Manor Ground and has kept tabs on him ever since.

He said: "I was surprised they were prepared to let him go as he is by far the best of their crop of youngsters but, when I sensed there was an opportunity, we moved very quickly.

"It is a nominal fee at the moment and nowhere near the figures that have been suggested elsewhere.

"We are buying potential and only time will tell how good he will be.

"But we hope that, by putting him in our environment, his game will flourish and he will receive a soundeducation to help him develop faster."

Unfortunately, Mills is cup-tied, having played for Oxford against Coventry, and so will miss the FA Youth Cup fourth round tie at Leeds on January 16.

He arrives at The Dell on January 4.

His younger brother Matthew, a centre-back, is already part of the Southampton Under-15s sideafter signing from Swindon at the end of last season.