According to Italian media outlet Gianluca Di Marzio, Bologna have opened talks with Manolo Gabbiadini's agent about a move back to the stiker's home country.

The report suggests that Bologna are preparing for the fact that their current striker Simone Verdi is being targetted by Napoli and if he wants to leave then they are looking at Gabbiadini as a replacement and have already held preliminary talks with the players agent.

There is no suggestion that Saints have given their permission for these talks, but this is the modern game and there is no real way of monitoring and stopping agents talking to clubs about their clients not just in transfer windows but outside of them, indeed this is now normal practice, but there are usually unwritten rules that the clubs and agents keep to that are occasionally flaunted as liverpool did with Virgil Van Dijk back in the summer.

The price is being suggested as around the £14 million or so Saints paid a year ago, although this figure seems to be suggested only as it is his current valuation on various football statistic web sites.

The question is whether Saints will be prepared to let him go, Gabbiadini's career seems to have stalled at Saints, not because of his undoubted talent but because of the formation played by Mauricio Pellegrino that just doesn't suit his strengths.

That has lead to the goals drying up so far this season he has stated 9 Premier League games plus another 11 as sub but has scored only 3 goals, the last of these being his 2 goal burst against Newcastle back in October over 3 months ago.

As mentioned this is due to the tactics employed by the manager rather than the skill of Gabbiadini who despite having to play in some soul destroying games has never given any less than 100%.

If Saints do let him go then it will be dependant on them signing another striker and even then it would still leave them a little short in striking options at last till the return of Charlie Austin which is likely to be at least six weeks away.

Photo: Action Images

skiptonsaint added 11:23 - Jan 16 Massive sign of Mr Gaos attitude to the club and the fans this for me. Very risky for moral if they do decide to sell a fans favourite IF this money was going to be used for someone of say Walcotts quality then maybe I could just about of stomached it. And why we don't try him wide in the 3 behind the striker In the Spurs game is beyond me ? What have we go to lose ? Imagine if he played well there and scored ? Played there for Napoli . Funny thing is if we got linked to one of the main Itallian national team strikers this window we would of all thought that showed ambition and been well chuffed. Instead we are possibly selling one. What a massive 2 weeks coming up for the club.

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Keesie66 added 11:35 - Jan 16 If Gabbiadini is let go that will be a true sign of weakness on the team management front. The guy has undoubted qualities and should be a no brainer to start any game especially when our main striker is injured.... Yet no this is not whats decided, Italians are emotional people, need an arm around them which will build confidence and produce goals... with MP background he should know this yet its all going wrong for reasons I do obviously not know but serioiusly make me wonder what on earth is happening.... Still think we will stay up, too much quality in this squad and too much on the line... we are going about our transfer business quietly as usual which is ok but this team is good enough to stay up without any extra signing.s....

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landerwal added 11:37 - Jan 16 If he goes, I for one will think of him as what could have been. His talent as you say has been squandered at Southampton. From where I sit, myself and those around me can see and feel his frustration when having got into a great goal scoring position, his colleagues then mess around with aimless passes, instead of the through ball with which he showed the few times he ever gets one, he can put away with ease. He and Ricky Lambert would have made a devastating attack duo.

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Jesus_02 added 11:52 - Jan 16 Another strike that would benefit from playing of a target man. May as well get rid of him if we don't get one. No one wants to see us try and edge every game 1-0
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saintstowin added 11:54 - Jan 16 A terrible plan. I'm in complete agreement with others, we have had a very good striker and made awful use of him. Soul destroying games is right. I remember at home to Watford he ran back eighty yards just to touch the ball in the first half. I can't think of Saints, or any other team, almost going out of their way to make a player's move not work out. Even if this is just paper talk I'm afraid it just reinforces with me how rigid and just plain wrong our current manager's thinking is. Play him and pass to him! Has he ever missed a one on one?! And this is without going into how ridiculous selling anyone good in this window would be for our chances of salvaging the season.

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LondonSaint added 12:07 - Jan 16 In my eyes the current management team has totally failed Gabbiadini. We should be building our team around him, not trying to shoehorn him in to a system that clearly isn't working... I wouldn't blame him if he wanted to go - what must it be like sitting on the bench for the misfiring Saints! Same story with Lemina and Boufal - no point buying talented players if you can't/won't let them try to work their magic. I wonder if Le Tiss was in this squad where he'd be playing. Reserves, no doubt. We have the resources to do better, we just need to get the best out of them!

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darthvader added 12:31 - Jan 16 Why don't they just sell the complete team and just play the younguns . Can't do any worse. Then they have their money which is obviously what they want . Fücking useless
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allsaint54 added 13:12 - Jan 16 May as well sell SL and have no fit strikers at the club. Absolutely ludicrous idea, MP should be the next person to leave not Gabbi. Get in a manager who will play a style that brings out the best in our players.
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IWOZTHERE added 13:35 - Jan 16 The board was negligent in the summer. So many mistakes and an unwillingness to admit to them. This would be yet another major error of judgement. Sort the cause out, not the symptoms!
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StRipper added 13:56 - Jan 16 We still haven't played Gabbiadini alongside a target man, which is his natural playing style and was presumably what we had in mind when we bought him. Yet, with talk of signing Carrillo, a target man, we may sell Gabbiadini in advance to balance the books for his arrival. Is it me or has the club completely lost its f****** mind? So, are we going to play Long, who totally failed to react when gifted an open goal against Watford and has a history of poor finishing, alongside a new striker when we want to play 2 up front? Rather than the clinical poacher who banged 2 in against United before ,we as fans, even saw the opportunity in the EFL Cup. Yes, that makes total sense. Oh, and not forgetting we have Sam Gallagher, a target man, on loan because MP didn't fancy him. So where is he going to play if we keep him for next season? We'll end up being just as one dimensional as we are now. Im not even sure the club really has a football vision any more. Its all coming second to bean counting.

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SanMarco added 14:08 - Jan 16 I think this will happen - it is a great shame but why would he want to stay? I wouldn't in his position.
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highfield49 added 14:49 - Jan 16 I think Carrillo will be signed and possibly Walcott, but only if Arsenal equally stop dithering around in the transfer market. Agree with SanMarco that Gabbi will leave which, as StRipper has just pointed out, is completely mad when he could feed off a strong target player. Hohum....
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SaintBrock added 15:33 - Jan 16 Just more asset stripping. Nothing we can do about it either. On the other hand I'll bet Gabbi will be glad to see the back of us, the way he's been treated here is diabolical. Poor sod but I'll wish him well if he goes. I wasn't kidding by the way when suggesting that JWP will be Les Greed's new striker.
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BoondockSaint added 16:38 - Jan 16 Worried about this in earlier posts. He has to much talent to waste away on the bench. Add in the lack of ambition of the owners and the lack of work ethic by the majority of his team mates, who can blame him? We would do the same in his place. If he goes, I wish him the best of luck.
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Winchsaint added 17:24 - Jan 16 This is so sad - whilst 'legend' would be going a bit far he will always be a hero and have special place in mine and I am sure many Saints fans hearts for his amazing performance at Wembley when he should have had a hat trick and still nearly single handedly won us the game, plus the way he hit the ground running and scored some great goals. He also seems like a nice chap, doesn't complain like Redmond or kick opposition goalies in the face like Austin and you can forgive frustration at misplaces passes etc especially given such limited opportunities. Sell Pellegrino, keep Gabbi!

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