Southampton's executive director of football of Les Reed has described new signing Maarten Stekelenburg as an invaluable signing.

The 32-year old Dutch goalkeeper has joined the Saints on a season-long loan from Fulham and Reed was delighted that he chose to move to the south coast when there were plenty of other clubs interested.

"Maarten is a goalkeeper with a wealth of top-level experience who will prove to be an important addition to the squad at this early stage of pre-season," Reed told the club's official website.

"While Fraser Forster's rehabilitation is progressing well, adding Maarten to our squad alongside Kelvin Davis and Paulo Gazzaniga will give us strength in depth for what will be a busy season.

"Maarten enjoyed tremendous success in Holland with Ajax and on the international stage, playing in the 2010 World Cup final. His experience will be invaluable to us, especially with the arrival of European football. "There was strong competition for Maarten's services, so we are very pleased he has committed to our cause."

The former Ajax and AS Roma gloveman, who spent last season on loan with Monaco, becomes Southampton's third signing of the summer following the captures of Juanmi and Cedric Soares.