Southampton had reached an agreement with Johannes Spors to become their Director of Football, subject to being granted a work permit, however it seems that this has been turned down by the Home Office.
footballinsider247.com are reporting that Johannes Spors has been denied a work permit by the Home Office.
They say that Saints had reached a full agreement with the German to become their new technical director, but that seems to be scuppered after the Permit was turned down in a hearing on Friday.
Spors was previously CEO of Italian club Genoa, and is now the global sports director of 777 group who have stakes in Melbourne Victory, Genoa, Standard Liege, Red Star and Vasco da Gama.
However whether the deal is dead in the water is unknown, what is not clear is the system of appeal, when managers and players come to the UK it is common for them to be turned down at the first hurdle and then it goes to appeal, what the system is for the non playing side of things is yet to be revealed.
Saints themselves have said nothing so far and that could be a sign that the process of appeal etc is not complete.