Hi, Saints fan here. We have been heavily linked with De Pedro for about a year, and it all came to a head in the January transfer window. It was basically reported in Spain as a done deal, and what we understand to be the truth, was that De Pedro had agreed a contract package, and all that was being negociated was the final price. Saints were willing to pay £1.5m, but Sociedad were holding out for an extra 500k, which we were reluctant to spend for a player available for free in the summer. There was a few weeks when the deal was off, then on again, and it seemed only a matter of time before he signed. He gave various interviews saying he was looking forward to joining us and the contract he had been offered was 'unbelievable' (he was only on 4k a week, and we'd offered 12k a week) Anyway after this saga the transfer window closed and we hadn't signed him, it looked like Rupert Lowe had missed out on a good player yet again because he wasn't prepared to fork out a bit more cash. Instead, for £1.5m we bought Niel McCann, this made it all the worse, as he's got to be one of the worst players to pull on the Saints shirt. Later, however, it came out, through various sources including Lowe, that there were other reasons we didn't sign him. Saints not only scout players on the pitch, but also off it, and apparently the club were shocked at aspects of his lifestyle. He is said to have a 'big problem', but no one really knows what it was Saints found. Anyway we will watch De Pedro with much interest, and hope, of course, he turns out to be crap