Any Saints fans who thought that Manolo Gabbiadini might have a final game for the club at Leicester have been dashed after he was pictured in Genoa arriving for his medical.

With Saints striking crisis some thought that Manolo Gabbiadini might have his transfer delayed in order to make up the attacking numbers at the King Power against Leicester, but it seems that is not in Ralph Hasenhuttl's plans as he was pictured by the Italian press in Sampdoria's home city of Genoa this morning to complete the second part of his medical.

It looks like he will join the Italian club later today for a fee believed to be in the region of £11 million, this is around £3.6 million less than the club paid for him almost 2 years ago.

He became a fans favourite immediately scoring on his debut and also in the next three games including two at Wembley in the League Cup Final.

He scored six times in his first four games but was injured in the fifth and little did we know that we had seen the best of the player, who would only score another six goals including a penalty in his final 56 appearances.

Truth is he was not suited to the way Saints played either under Claude Puel or his three successors and wen he played he was often a forlorn figure desperate for a through ball to latch on to but rarely getting it with Saints style based on attack down the flanks and balls into the box.

e did have the knack though of getting important goals, last season, he only scored 5 times but all of them counted, the opener in a 3-2 win against West Ham, both in a 2-2 draw with Newcastle, the last gasp equaliser at Burnley and perhaps his most vital the scrambled winner at Swansea City in the penultimate do or die game.

He was a popular figure amongst Saints supporters, but to be truthful the goals apart he contributed little Shane Long was given stick by the fans whilst the Italian was not, that was unfair on Long they both scored exactly the same number of goals in that period a grand total of two each, Long is judged harshly by his goal tally, Gabbiadini it seems was not.

But that was not his fault and he was a model professional whilst at the club, never complaining but as I have said the style of play did not suit him and not being a player that works hard off the ball it meant that if he wasn't scoring he wasn't really contributing.

That is not the type of player that Ralph Hasenhuttl wants in his squad, that is no slur on Gabbiadini, football teams are made up of all types of player as Lawrie McMenemy once said, you need hod carriers and you need violinists.

So farewell Manolo you gave us a couple of good memories during your stay and you will always be welcome back at St Mary's.

Hopefully he will too receive a warm welcome at Sampdoria a club he spent 18 months at between July 2013 and January 2015 when he joined Napoli who subsequently sold him to Saints for £14.6 million.

Photo: Action Images

underweststand added 10:53 - Jan 11 Not the first time we've heard this type of story. His whirlwind start was a real shock to the whole Prem. and not just Saints fans. The greatest injustice in his time was being robbed of a hat-trick in the League Cup Final (where was VAR when we needed it ?.) YES - he is a good player, perhaps too good for the present Saints set-up, and had he come into a side that had a Pelle, or a Mane in it, he'd have been a real success, but the reality is, that he is / was a highly-paid striker who doesn't score goals regularly. (In old fashioned parlance - a square peg in a round hole.) As Nick pointed out, his overall performance(s) are little better than Shane Long's The problem? IMHO ..like many foreign imports, he wasn't prepared for the "physicality" in the Prem. and after his injury, he went into his shell and lost a lot of his spontaneity. I will certainly be watching Sampdoria results as I'm certain he'll find his form playing the style of (Italian) football that he was used to.

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saintmark1976 added 11:00 - Jan 11 A player with a quick brain and feet who would have scored a hat full of goals playing as a "knock off " striker with a centre forward who could hold a ball up and play him in, such as Pele or Lambert. To me it's amazing that we can loose a player of his caliber yet retain the services of serial under performers like J W P and Redmond.
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1970 added 14:12 - Jan 11 well said 'saintmark1976' although some may argue Redmond has been impressive of late he has had lots of really poor games some cant remember that, I don't hear Longs name being mentioned for transfer I wonder why, because he is worth nothing and no-body wants him, I doubt we will purchase any new players this window but we may get a striker in on loan which is great until its the end of the season and time to pay up and we wont have the cash and that includes ings, I can see headline now Bournemouth lose Wilson but steal Ings from under rivals noses only because we weren't prepared to pay the fee, I hope I'm wrong but all the signs coming out of the club are all doom and gloom

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BoondockSaint added 14:47 - Jan 11 Sorry to see him go. Class act all around (like Steven Davis) wish him all the best. Come on Nick, stop repeating the same mis-information/fake news! "Long is as good as Gabbiadini" (along with "Yoshida is the reason we lost" & "JWP is a dead ball specialist") Don't cook the stats- we can all fact check: https://www.whoscored.com/Teams/18/Archive/England-Southampton Long 2 goals in 1580 minutes and Gabbiadini 5 goals in 1076 minutes. If Long is as good as Gabbiadini, why are other clubs not trying to sign him?

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SanMarco added 17:52 - Jan 11 Yes: The Long - Gabbiadini comparison is not fair on the latter. I can see why Ralph doesn't want him but it is interesting that none of the 500 managers we've has since he signed have stuck with him for long. The goals at Burnley and Swansea were the ones that kept us up though... I wish him good luck - he feels like a 'what might have been' player to me.
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SaintBrock added 18:29 - Jan 11 If Gabbiadini was not suited to Hasenhüttl's preferred high tempo pass and run game then how the (little) f does Austin fit in with it all, the bloke has no more energy or dynamism than The Statue of Liberty. Just needs a few pigeons to pass by when Charlie's on the pitch and all will be complete. Somebody speaks with forked tongue!
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underweststand added 19:04 - Jan 11 Well - done and dusted now - He's gone back to Italy, and in the end we got a reasonable deal (financially) for a player who clearly wasn't going to be able to "cut it" under Ralph's new regime, and sadly did little else of note in the previous 18 months. YES - his great 6 goal start. and the hat-trick he was "robbed of " in the League Cup Final, and he will forever be remembered for that vital goal at Swansea, but ...little else? Many (good) comments on his fine qualities, but it clearly didn't work for him at SMS and for a side like Saints to have a very highly-paid, "non-scoring" striker with a 4 year contract in his pocket, this deal must be a win-win situation for the club and the player. Good luck Manolo, and now let's see where the transfer fee is going to be spent.

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underweststand added 19:31 - Jan 11 Lies, dam*ed lies ....and statistics (as once quoted by Churchill) clearly show that (in goals count), but despite the diffenence in their talent /qulaities ...Charlie Austin is still a better commodity (goal-wise) than Gabbi has been during the last season and a half. Last season ; Austin 7 goals and Gabbi 5 This season ; Austin 2 ...........and Gabbi 1 I know that this minutes to goals stat. is meant to show impact, but whether someone plays for 5 minutes... or 95 minutes , it's still goals that count and gets points. Like many on here, I sometime despair at Charlie's carthorse style, and his lack of pace, but for all his fine qualities anyone could blow Gabbi off the ball, and his ball possession was often abysmal. There doesn't seem to be a long queue of clubs wanting Austin (who was a bargain at £4 million) and he is the only striker with height and "muscle " that we have at present. Gabbi's deal back to italy was a small loss on investment, but saves us £3 million a year on the salary for a player who had a 4 year contract and couldn't score. Clearly Ralph was correct in saying that our squad size was too big, and it now appears that there is some good talents at Youth level that; Hughes, Pellegrino ..and even Puel chose to ignore. Let's hope we get a good balance when Ralph brings in "his choices".

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JohnBall added 21:01 - Jan 11 A sad day indeed and depressingly inevitable. Saintmark1976 has it exactly right. The truth being that Gabbi was just too skillful and with more allround quality than Saints could ever make use of. Odd still however that in those first couple of appearances (and notably the final) he seemed to 'fit' just perfectly. Good evidence (albeit brief) that his talent and the way the team could play - were not so hopelessly incompatible. In retrospect, for me those 3 goals against United gave me more pleasure than anything I have seen in stripes since Matt's best days at the Dell. Good luck Gabbi, I for one will watch your progress in a team that can hopefully value your contribution.

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DPeps added 07:21 - Jan 12 Gabbi is a striker who will thrive on good service, and so his lack of success at the club says as much or more about the other players as it does about him. Also, it's very Saints to sell a striker just when we have a selection crisis up front!
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SaintBrock added 09:04 - Jan 12 Great headline but no picture Nick. You had me there!
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SaintBrock added 09:06 - Jan 12 "Also, it's very Saints to sell a striker just when we have a selection crisis up front!" DPeps.. altogether now; "That's why we're going down"
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underweststand added 11:36 - Jan 13 For all his finer points, Gabbiadini's time at Saints mirrored that of two previous players who came from Italy and found out what the physical side of Prem.football was all about. Gaston Ramirez and Dani Osvaldo cost the club a fortune in fees and salaries and their huge contracts almost bankrupted the club a second time. Nicola Cortese may have done a fantastic job of reorganising the admin. side at SMS, but knew s*d all about football. Our signing of Gabbi already looked suspect - by the end of his first season. Sorry to lose your talent Manolo, but the thought of (you) staying on for the remaining 3 years of your contract would have been a fate ...worse than bankruptcy.

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