Eljero Elia: Ronaldo Koeman says it's unfair to compare new Southampton loan signing to Mario Balotelli

Winger, who has joined on loan from Werder Bremen until the end of the season has 27 international caps for the Netherlands

(Twitter/Southampton FC)

Southampton have announced the loan signing of Dutch winger Eljero Elia from Werder Bremen until the end of the season.

The 27-year-old (above, pic via Southampton FC) agreed a move with the South Coast club last month and officially became a part of the squad at midnight, the first minute of the January transfer window.

Elia, who had spells at Hamburg and Juventus before joining Werder Bremen , has been involved in several off-field incidents, but Saints coach Ronald Koeman said it was unfair to compare him to Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli.

"If I had doubts about his private life I wouldn't sign him," Koeman said. "It's the press and rumours, it's not true. We need really good players who want to develop themselves and be professional here."

Elia, who has 27 caps for the Netherlands, has played just nine times for Bremen this season, but Koeman is confident he can find the form that saw him come on as a substitute in the 2010 World Cup final.

Koeman wouldn't have signed Elia if he had doubts about his private life (Getty Images)

He added: "I know the player, I know the family of the player, I know the agent of the player. He’s a serious boy and he wants the chance to play football. He has the chance to play football at Southampton.

"It’s a good step, a big step for him. He’s still not 100 per cent because he didn’t play the last few months. But for the next weekend he will be prepared and he has to take his chance. For the rest, that is separate from football and I’m not interested."