Huddersfield Town's football operations director Ross Wilson is to move to Southampton to become the Premier League outfit's Director of Scouting and Recruitment.

The club have confirmed that there will be a transition period before he joins the South Coast club full-time in the close season.

Scotsman Wilson, well respected within the game, has been at Town since August 2012 after previously working for Falkirk and Watford.

Southampton have been seeking a replacement for Paul Mitchell, now Tottenham Hotspur's head of recruitment and analysis. Wilson joined Town's board at the start of 2014.

Town will issue a further statement in due course to clarify its future plans for their football operations and announced the news in the wake of a 1-1 draw at Birmingham City.

In their statement, the club said: "His [Ross Wilson's] role has seen him work very closely with Town’s managers on player recruitment.

"He has directed, developed and overseen the day-to-day activities and development of the Club’s entire Football Operations including scouting, recruitment, analysis, sports science and medical.

"This has involved a wholesale building and modernisation of football activities to make them fit for purpose in the Championship following an 11 year absence.

"Ross also supported Academy Manager Mark Lillis in achieving Academy category two status whilst working closely with Mark to drive the Academy in its development at PPG Canalside."

The Saints' Executive Director of Football Les Reed said: “I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Ross and say that I am excited about working with him and by what he brings to our club.

“As with all player and staff recruitment, we have undertaken a thorough and intensive search for a new director of scouting and recruitment. We are delighted that process has led to this appointment.

“Ross comes to us from another progressive club in Huddersfield Town, where he has been head of football operations with a strong emphasis on player recruitment and analytics. He has extensive experience at clubs in England and Scotland, and has built a strong network of contacts in the UK and abroad.

“He is well-respected in the industry and, as an executive director at Huddersfield, brings with him a level of experience in senior management, which will contribute to keeping us at the cutting edge and ensuring due diligence is applied to all of our recruitment procedures.

“Ross will work across all age groups from the under-nines through to the first team, and will lead our recruitment operations into and through the next five-year plan.”