Southampton line up Osvaldo-Quagliarella swap with Juve

Southampton are looking to replace their banished Italian international striker Dani Osvaldo in the summer, and are tracking Juventus misfit Fabio Quagliarella – who is available for a reported £2m in a potential swap deal. The English south coast side are heavily odds-on at 1/33 for a top 10 league finish.

Both forwards are currently at the Old Lady, with Osvaldo on loan until the end of the season. The 28-year-old was sent out to Juventus in January due to a training ground scuffle with Saints clubmate Jose Fonte.

Since his £13m transfer to Southampton last summer, Argentine-born striker Osvaldo scored just three in 13 matches in the first half of the season. His supposed headbutt on Fonte was the last straw for Mauricio Pochettino.

Following the summer arrivals of Carlos Tevez and Fernando Llorente at Juventus, Quagliarella has been used very sparingly in the league especially, limited to just 14 games – 11 of which were from the bench – and scoring a sole goal.

With the 25-capped Italy player now aged 31, and his contract running out in 2015, Antonio Conte could be willing to offload him for a cut-price fee.

Quagliarella was recently left out of Juve’s Europa League squad in favour of Osvaldo. His agent, Giuseppe Bozzo, reacted to that omission by suggesting his client may leave Turin. “Fabio deserved much more respect but evidently what he has given to Juve in recent years is not worth that much,” he said.

“He has never made any controversy but that doesn’t mean that he is happy with the situation. Fabio hasn’t taken this omission well.”

Saints boss Pochettino currently has the likes of in-form England World Cup hopefuls Jay Rodriguez (5/1 to make the 23-man squad) and Rickie Lambert (7/2) up front, but would like to be in the hunt for an experienced professional as the ambitious side looks to next season.

They are currently in ninth in the Premier League and have an 11 point cushion from Aston Villa – who are 11th, so it is highly likely the club will improve from their 14th place finish the previous campaign.