Southampton in official talks with Atletico for Luciano Vietto
By Chris Hughes
Yesterday Sky Sports’ Kaveh Solhekol announced that Southampton were in talks with Spanish giants Atletico Madrid for striker Luciano Vietto.
In a swift turn of events Southampton could be set to sign Argentine Luciano Vietto, who is deemed surplus to requirements at his current club.
Details of the fee involved have not been discussed, however it would smart to suggest that Atletico would not want to make a huge loss on their 20-million euro investment two years ago.
The Saints however are not the only team in the race for the Argentine, with Italian’s Sampdoria also eyeing up the former Racing Club striker.
Despite having a transfer ban in place it’s believed that Diego Simeone’s side is happy to part ways with the versatile attacker, with Antoine Greizmann and Kevin Gameiro already on their books.
The 23-year-old has spent his last three seasons in Spain with three different clubs, having initially joined Villarreal. He starred in his one-and-only season in yellow, scoring 20 goals in all competitions and earning himself a move to the aforementioned Madrid.
However after a less-than impressive campaign in the capital he was loaned out to Sevilla, where’s gone on to score ten goals in 31 appearances.
Vietto’s potential role in the Southampton squad is hard to work out right now, with his natural position better described as a second-striker. In a similar style to Jay Rodriguez, the five-foot-eight man flourishes when he can feed off balls from other creative players whilst exposing holes between the defense – even if that means sitting deeper.
However it’s still a sign of intent from the Saints in their hunt for another striker, which means either Shane Long will be leaving or Sam Gallagher will get less of a first-team role than some might of thought.