Southampton Revolving Door Continues As Osvaldo Departs But Taider And Schelotto Close To Arriving

Southampton are close to announcing loan deals for Inter Milan pair Saphir Taider and Ezequiel Schelotto as Pablo Daniel Osvaldo heads in the opposite direction.

Manager Ronald Koeman has watched the Saints being plundered this summer but is now close to adding his fourth and fifth signings of the summer.

Southampton lost Rickie Lambert, Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren and Calum Chambers this summer for a combined total of around £90m.

Before Koeman arrived the club also lost manager Mauricio Pochettino to Tottenham Hotspur, who were then interested in recruiting midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin and striker Jay Rodriguez from the south-coast club.

The Dutchman has since brought in Graziano Pelle, Dusan Tadic and Ryan Bertrand and is hopeful of adding midfielders Taider and Schelotto soon, reports the Southampton Daily Echo.

French-born Algeria international Taider played for the French national youth teams before he committed to Algeria in 2013.

He made two appearances at the World Cup as the African nation emerged as one of the tournament's surprise packages, making it to the knockout stages before being dismissed by the Netherlands.

The 22-year-old started out at French side Grenoble before moving to Serie A side Bologna and then to Inter last summer for €5.5m.

Schelotto was born in Argentina but has one full cap for Italy. He started his career at Cesena before moving to Atalanta and then making a move to the San Siro in 2013.

But just 13 appearances later, Inter are looking to sell Schelotto and are hopeful an initial loan move could become a permanent one.

Southampton would have to part with around €7m (£5.5m) for Taider, while Schelotto would be cheaper and cost around €5m (£3.9m) if Koeman wanted to convert the loans into permanent deals.

Osvaldo became the Saints' most expensive ever player when they paid £12.8m for the Argentine but he failed to make an impact and was suspended by the club after an alleged training-ground bust up with defender Jose Fonte.