For the first time this summer a Saints departure will be met with relief rather than angst.

Dani Osvaldo’s move to Inter Milan, assuming it hits no last minute hitches, will certainly not be greeted in the same way as the departures of the likes of Adam Lallana and Dejan Lovren.

While there has been plenty of room for frustration and panic from Saints fans over the previous few weeks or so, Osvaldo’s switch to the Italian giants will be cheered by the vast majority.

It is really saying something about the impact he had in his few months here that even a squad and set of fans desperate for extra numbers and quality are not even remotely concerned about losing an Italian international from their ranks. In fact, if anything they are positively happy about it.

Even with everything that has happened at Saints this summer, there was no way that Osvaldo was ever going to be reintegrated into the Saints set-up.

For a dressing room that is already rocking and reeling and trying to find their way back to normality, to bring back such a divisive influence risked causing a massive fissure.

Osvaldo’s days at Saints were all but over on that January morning when he started his dust-up with Jose Fonte.

Not only had the striker failed to really flourish since joining the club for a club record fee, an initial £12.9m, and looked like a ticking time bomb when he stepped onto the pitch, but his bust-up was with a key and very senior member of the dressing room.

Fonte is respected and liked by his teammates, and recognised as a pillar of the tightly knit unit that took the club from League One into the top flight.

His colleagues rallied around him and, though some of those have of course now gone, it was still not a viable option for Osvaldo to return to these shores.

Ronald Koeman is doing all he can as Saints manager, and quietly impressing already, but that is a situation he will be relieved not to handle.

That Osvaldo didn’t return back for pre-season training, and that Saints, from the outside at least, seemed relieved rather than concerned about his absence, blamed on illness, spoke volumes.

They seemed relieved for the breathing space to try and manufacture a move away.

At least this time his buyout clause is a realistic one.

There was a bit of backslapping when they shifted him out on transfer deadline day to Juventus on loan with an option for a permanent move for more than £15m. That option was, predictably, not exercised.

A buyout clause of £5.5m sounds far more realistic.

It would be a huge loss, but with Osvaldo off the wage bill, and players coming in the opposite direction to help bolster Koeman’s squad, there are other factors to take into account.

Saints will certainly be hoping that Osvaldo has a stellar time at the San Siro, so much so that they move to buy him permanently. Heavy financial loss or not, that might just bring the biggest sigh of relief of all.