THIS weekend England prepare to take on Italy in the European Championship final at Wembley – the country’s first men’s major international final since 1966.

Throughout the years, Saints have seen a handful of Italian players grace their squads – with some making a bigger splash than others.

The 2016 2-1 Europa League victory over one of the country’s giants – Inter Milan – will have done Saints’ reputation in the Mediterranean country no harm whatsoever.

The Italian Serie A has been a popular destination for Saints leavers too, as well as taking on the club’s players on a loan basis – like Wesley Hoedt (Lazio), Cedric Soares (Inter) and Maya Yoshida (Sampdoria).

With this in mind, let’s take a look at Saints’ Italian links…

Attacking Trio

Just by chance, all Italian players to be registered at Saints have been strikers – and you’ll no doubt have fond memories of some.

Italian international Dani Osvaldo joined the club from AS Roma during August 2013, in what was the most underwhelming of the three.

The forward only played an unlucky 13 times for Saints, netting three, before he was suspended by the club for an altercation at Staplewood, and moved back to his homeland with Inter following the termination of his contract.

All outlays considered, it’s understood he cost the club a staggering £8million per goal.

His direct replacement, Graziano Pelle did more to capture the hearts of Saints fans. Joining in the same summer as Osvaldo’s departure, the physical presence of Pelle went on to play 80 times over two years.

Two prolific Premier League seasons and 30 goals in all competitions later, the former Feyenoord striker had attracted interest from the likes of Juventus and scored twice for Italy at the European Championship.

Pelle moved to Chinese Super League side Shandong Taishan shortly after Euro 2016, and it was six months before the revolving door of Italian strikers would rotate again – saying ‘ciao’ to Manolo Gabbiadini.

Daily Echo:

Fans of popular football video games would recognise the Napoli striker as a player with promise and potential, joining Saints on deadline day for a fee believed to be around £15m.

His finest hour came just months later, when he scored twice and had an opening goal contentiously ruled out against Manchester United, in the EFL Cup final at Wembley – although it wasn’t enough to capture the trophy.

The Italian hit-man scored 10 in 51 Premier League appearances before he moved to Sampdoria in January 2019, with Saints at least recuperating most of the fee spent.

Two lesser-known Italian names were on the books at Saints pre-2000, though. Retired strikers Alessandro Atzeni (1998-99) and Cosimo Sarli (1999) never played a competitive game for the club.