Giordano

It says he is Set to sign for Roma, on loan, for 1.5m and a later on permanent fee of 6.5m.

I think that there might be a scientific way to decide this. You could ask a panel of soccer experts to give a value to each of these signings out of 100. The value would represent what benefit they had brought to Saints overall in whatever ways ~ be it goals, assists, tackles, league points, increased transfer value, ticket sales, season tickets sales, attractiveness to other players/neutral fans, shirt sales, world-wide exposure, international and domestic reputation and so on. In the case of Gaston and Yoshida for instance you might find that they had as many off the pitch benefits as on the pitch. Take the example of Ronaldinho / Kaka at Milan, Barca and RM, amongst the highest transfer fees ever yet precious few goals in latter years - but in endorsements, shirts etc #plenty.

= posturing by the president to keep face and get more ££ fee.

Just spotted him in the picture from this mornings training. Incidentally, if you want to go up a few leagues regarding PR I reckon look at how Roma organise their media. Daily press conferences etc, very well thought out and high level stuff. They have a world-wide following 24 hours a day and must deliver content even during off-season. We are doing well enough with what we do, so kudos to our in-house team and not criticising them at all, the opposite, but how Roma do it is something to aspire to in a few years time..

The other day he cried off a public afternoon session with a calf issue and went to the gym instead. He is training with the squad, there is no exclusion or anything like that going on. Yes there is a live streaming available of most of the roma training camps if you look for it...they have their own channel, newspaper the lot.....https://twitter.com/OfficialASRoma He appears in a little training video from yesterday but not in anything from training today.

Update by inference: 1. A Southampton representative was in London yesterday according to several Italian papers -notably the big two sports papers/web papers, supposedly to try and tie up the Osvaldo deal. IF true, that suggests to me that there was an Osvaldo rep in London yesterday also. Otherwise they could have done it by phone anywhere, conference call etc so why go to London? So there's a good chance, if story is true, that we met Osvaldo rep in person yesterday.That's a good sign its serious. You can mug someone off by phone or email, once you look them in the eyes it gets harder. 2. We've heard nothing since. That's 24 hours later. Maybe they need to think about things overnight and maybe they need to check it out with Osvaldo himself, but the bottom line is that we have heard NOTHING, not a squeak, regarding the meeting. That's a little bit but not totally unusual. 3. Usually we would hear something from the agents/ other clubs side one way or another. 4. My view though is that to hear NOTHING is totally a 100%Nicola Cortese way of doing business. It suggests we are seriously involved with the other part- and they are taking our interest in them equally seriously- to the extent of not letting any leaks derail a potential deal. 5. They would not be taking it seriously unless it was a potentially realistic deal, or because unusually they are totally professional about the matter and would not mug NC off by advertising they were in talks with a view to smoking out possible other (better) bidders. 6.All of which points to something is going on, probably right now, regarding the transfer of Osvaldo to Southampton.

ok am looking at it now... The last paragraph of article in question refers to why Napoli appear to be going full speed on getting Higuain whilst slowing down on Damiao. Theres nothing interesting in the comment apart from the snippet that its Benitez that likes the look of the player (Damiao) and has seen something in him that could be useful for Napoli. More interesting is the article from the corriere today... http://www.corrieredellosport.it/calcio/serie_a/napoli/2013/07/18-328649/Calciomercato+Napoli%2C+via+libera+per+Damiao%3A+Scocco+all%27Internacional Paraphrased: Inter have virtually sewn up a deal for Argentinian striker Scocco, from Newell Old Boys (we might be having one of those i believe....;-)) who appears to be the replacement for Damiao. There is a Napoli representative in brazil with Inter right now to do the deal. Inter still want 25m euros but the Napoli rep is trying to reduce that a bit, and it restates that Benitez loves him and wants his babies . ( only joking not the last bit) - but that benitez personally likes him is true which kind of tells you he will get him. No news i can tell in italy on Osvaldo. Which is very good news for us i hope. PS the Nilmar to Inter story (releasing Damiao to Napoli, Spurs or us) is kind of superceded by the Scocco to Inter story- it appears Scocco is having medicals..

Thank you for your opinion. My opinion is I disagree strongly, and this kind of nihilistic post is the sort of comment that I find exasperating at times on this site. In terms of his performances to date he has underperformed id say, but the gap between that and worst ever signing - wow that's some stretch! It seems to me to betray your habitual tendencies towards pessimism, for which you are infamous on this site. Being a Saints supporter of over 40 years I do share some of those tendencies - but to attribute them to this player based on last season - well I think you are wrong. He can do much better, but it is the rest of the players around him who need to up their levels a bit also.

On bet365 actually. When it says "dangerous attack" I gets excited.

Great works guys out there. Thanks for the updates.

Hulk to Monaco is not good news. Italian web-press saying this opens the way for big zenit assault of Osvaldo. ...as long as they had all those forwards I thought zenit could not get him.. Now hulk is leaving they have a space...:-(

We got it wrong last time. i agree with buctootim. But I think that NC in particular would want to learn from that mistake/ misjudgement. And that's why we have Lovren in early plus big vic, shaw and boruc signed up etc. Our defensive team is stronger than last year. I would like an extra fb but am guessing we have cover in the squad plus that's what the academy is for in part right? I'm not certain there's any need to get aggrieved if our next buy is, say Banega. He would in all probability be an upgrade on AL SD and JP if I'm being brutally honest, he's a current Argentinian international FFS! Elsewhre I think it's abundantly clear saints are looking to strengthen our attacking options. That we have not got that resolved is no surprise though- the kind of high level player we are now looking at will be part of a complex interconnected web of other transfers and alternate scenarios. Only Monaco bought early with Falcao, only 12 hours ago Cavani completed, only a few hours later we hear Rooney is to go, hulk is apparently available in the last few hours also. If we wanted an off the shelf striker we would have had three by now of the common garden variety. The likes of Osvaldo and Damiao are the level below these names as well as others like Negredo soldado and higuain. With those resolved our turn will come. We would not be getting associated with Catania strikers for example if we did not have a plan b, or c, and were unaware that we needed striking reinforcement. That's why the names are leaking out of these others ( plus it shows we have options) . We will get a striker. Just hope it's a good one of first or second choice, not 5th or 6th choice.

Update from italy, gazzette dello sport. http://www.gazzetta.it/Calcio/Squadre/Roma/17-07-2013/roma-evra-stretta-de-sanctis-southampton-pressing-osvaldo-20794012014.shtml Paraphrased: Southampton are pressing hard for Osvaldo. They (we) have an emissary (a representative of nicola or NC himself id guess) in London right now talking it over with (presumably) Osvaldo's representatives, though Osvaldo remains cool on the prospect ( i suspect they are reporting old news rather than anything new there ~ and if i was Osvaldo in any case Id use that stance as a negotiating position to get the best deal in any case seeing as its obvious Roma want to sell him). Could be an interesting day- if they agree terms and get osvaldo to say yes we might get him after all.....oh- and it goes on to say Bergessio from Catania is the possible plan B. Don't get /or really believe in the last bit. He's nothing like Osvaldo, different kind of striker altogether.

We need to use a deciphering code for guys like De Laurentis and the Internacional president Giovanni Luigi. Both talk a lot of frankly codswallop and say totally contradictory things - but somewhere amidst all the bs lies a tenuous thread of fact. De Laurentis for example says Dam is on his list of objectives - via twitter no less - but Luigi denies any contact from Napoli, Luigi earlier says Napoli's apparent offer of 18m euros is not even close - but from a club that's not made an offer how does that work? De Laurentis now says hes got 124m euros to spend - really- did PSG pay for Cavani with a couple of suitcases full of cash? Of course not. You have to remember the guy is a filmmaker. Hes in the entertainment industry and he loves all this stuff, any news about him and Napoli is good news. Even random bs is good publicity. He is bigging up Napoli for his and his fans benefit.......to make them happy post Cavani, and to make Napoli seem even more attractive to new players- like Higuain. Luigi is doing his best to be the big man over there in brazil and not get pushed around by agents or european clubs. His reactions and comments are entirely predictable. Postscript: From the saints point of view If Napoli want Damiao they will have him. Damiao will only (maybe) join us if Napoli turn him down at this point. So if they go for Higuain- and get him - id say that makes it less likely they will also buy Damiao - and increase our chances - so we are in the queue basically. Napoli might get both but may have to change style of play as a consequence to keep both on the pitch at the same time as only one can be the "punta"...i wonder if benitez is inputting anything to this decision..

Just read it in Italian. The translation is ok but misses important nuances. paraphrased: first of all - confirming what he said the other day ie napoli have not formally approached him, and if they want D they need to do so. (which incidentally is a quantum shift from the obvious nonsense of "he's not really for sale, i have no value for him and i want him for next season which he said 48-72 hours ago...") Secondly the interviewer pushes him into an admission that MP and NC from Saints are the interested other parties. Again we are admitted as an interested party- just like by Roma earlier today for osvaldo. BUT suggests plenty of others in England fancy him as well and concludes by indirectly once again telling Napoli through the interview that if they really want Dam then they must go through him... Looks to me like he has been outflanked by napoli, the player wants to go to italy and will be positive - he has been approached direct for sure via his agent - which means the price that Luigi can negotiate might be smaller so he may feel like being a bit difficult as he is currently showing so well (bit like what we did with cagliari and their president). With Saints he will undoubtedly get more for his club.....but would the player come ...again I have to say v unlikely.

They have a 35,000 capacity yet average only 23,000 to home games. But 20,000 of these rather apathetic supporters from what you might call a provincial team like Saints in some respects turn up to see the unveiling of Gomez. Also, look at the mental scenes at Atletico Madrid when they unveiled David Villa. Amazing really. Ronaldinho was 31 i think when he got 20,000 turn up for him at Flamengo. If we signed someone comparable would we get that? For instance if Damiao signed or Osvaldo - would we see that? I think not. Bit of a shame really. I like all that show-biz stuff. We are not really that kind of club. Who would draw that kind of crowd to an unveiling at SMS?

Yup I agree with all that. Until and unless we get to the state of having real pulling power we must always rely on getting good players who are not quite the full shilling in one way or another. As you say- either youngsters with potential, or those with personality issues etc...in fact: Boruc - a character Cork- funny situation, is certainly a character and what was all that stuff with chelsea loaning him all around the country all about? Puncheon: ahem.. Ramirez - he's a character plus young.And foreign. Davies- he's a character, funny situation at Rangers. Shaw. Is very young Gazza- young and really tall, plus foreign (argentinian). Yoshida - well he's a character too. He is Japanese ffs. Clyne - he's young. Rodriguez- young Mayuka - young. And foreign. Lovren- youngish and looks a character. (if only by the state of his tats) Guly- he's a character! Fox- he's a character too! Forren- was youngish and a funny one.Well a bit morose rather than funny. Tadanari lee- was an odd character.All that archery stuff when he scored. Japanese too. Spiderman: young and french. Chappie=- he is a character what with not having any hair. Billy sharp- internet/twitter celebrity phenomenon. SRL: normal except he was a lower league player til we signed him. Fonte: probably normal like SRL. maybe not though. KD: normal, older and crazy- could have been earning more in premier league all these years but stayed with us- not normal. MP- he's not normal is he and neither are his coaches- have you seen or heard them? Big Vic- young. JWP- young, frighteningly good public speaking - stepford wives programmed response good almost. Have i missed anyone? Oh Nicola - not normal, paranoid tendencies, superiority complex, delusions of grandeur, workaholic successful businessman with attention to detail. Remember him saying how he used to fill in the bbc predictor thing every week...? All in all we got lots of young uns, lots of not normals and a few inbetweeners all led by few sandwiches short of a picnic manager, coaches and chairman. Its a great mix. Fertile and exciting. I love it.

Cheers...must meet up at a match someday and catch up on old SF stuff etc. Its probably just me but I seem to prefer this nonsense speculation talk to the match report kind of posts stuff...even the matches themselves I often find too uncomfortable to endure live. Unless I am full of alcohol. :-)

Sorry if this is boring you all... Todays Corriere dello sport article on osvaldo reiterates stuff we already know but elaborating a little...this time its the Rome sporting directors right man Frederic Massara who talks... paraphrased "Osvaldo has evaluated Saints offer and AT THE MOMENT has not accepted (but clearly the offer is good to Roma is the sub-text), Zenit are in pole, BUT its not a certainty he will be going (rubbish platitude to not lose face/ negotiation position )... What is interesting is that it seems to confirm that we HAVE put an offer in for this striker. The rumour is not refuted. He is therefore regarded as the or a "type" of striker we are looking for. Question is, what other strikers are there out there who share his characteristics that we may have lined up as back up other than Damiao? Bendtner? http://www.corrieredellosport.it/calcio/calcio_mercato/2013/07/16-328413/Calciomercato+Roma%2C+Massara%3A+%C2%ABOsvaldo+non+%C3%A8+detto+che+parta%C2%BB

Don't believe it. He's 30 years old, 31 in jan. never played EPL. Unless he is a free transfer. How they think they can get 9m for a 30 year old I don't know.. And why all of a Sudden we are interested in this type of player? Nope nope nope. It's odd. Agent talk perhaps to gee up Norwich?

Liverpool enquired about Matri today... If we were looking at any of the juve forwards I thought it would be him.

31 years old crocked forward? Seriously? Why?

Sorry but will somewhat underwhelmed if its juves FabQ after the calibre of player we been mentioned with. Different type of forward player too. Really good player but not really really good. Only plays of champions of Italy and is an ex international mind.

He played for Espanyol from January 2010 to September 2011.In that time, under MP, his value went from £2.6million to £12million. He scored 21 goals in 46 league+cup matches la liga and copa del rey, 4 assists, was booked 11 times, red card once, substituted by MP 11 times during those 44matches ( I'm guessing guess after he's got booked MP hauls him off...indicative of a temperament issue..). No real current injury problems, not particularly injury prone. I guess under MP he was ok from that if maybe a little frustrated at getting subbed off...but you could also say under MP he became a £12million+ player... oh, btw he shares the same agent as Marchisio, Naingolan (sp), Nani, Gareth Barry and the Malaga RB Jesus..so if NC is chatting with the agent regarding Osvaldo its not inconceivable.....

http://www.corrieredellosport.it/calcio/calcio_mercato/2013/07/15-328310/Calciomercato+Roma%3A+Osvaldo+verso+lo+Zenit Latest from the corriere dello sport... Osvaldo is convincing himself he might be ok in russia playing CL, scoring hatfuls of goals and ensuring his WC place is still there. He had previously in the heat of the moment discounted both Zenit and Southampton - teams lined up for him by the roma management - but appears in the cold light of day to be reconsidering, particularly the Zenit option from Spalleti who would welcome him with open arms on a 4m euro deal at a transfer fee just under 20m euros.... fwiw I reckon saints offer is ££ more than zenits in transfer fee, salary maybe similar or less, and its cold russia (you got to bear in mind he is italo-argentinian - cold weather is a real lifestyle disincentive to them- no joke!) with CL matches versus "the southampton project" in the EPl with a coach that knows him.....he will probably choose the CL and money - but do bear in mind Zenit already have Hulk playing for them- the Brazil number 9 from the confed cup...(and russia's number 9 bukharov).so Osvaldo is not guaranteed to displace either of them and start- neither is he guaranteed to start at SMS but SRL is not Brazils or russias number 9 so there is a bit of lee-way there....a footballing decision would see him move to SMS i reckons..a ££ decision to russia...indeed, i can envisage that argument being very high up on the list of things NC might have said to his agent..