[goldenHuddlestone]

Fiorentina continue to be active on the market, preparing a 5 year deal for Ricardo Quaresma and tracking Newcastle United's Steven Taylor.

Reports claim that the Viola have drawn up a contract that would double Quaresma's current wages at Porto, giving him £1m per season.

The Portuguese wide man is also of interest to Chelsea, Atletico Madrid and Inter, but Fiorentina are said to have the upper hand with a £12m bid.

The Tuscan outfit has pledged to strengthen its squad for the upcoming Serie A and UEFA Cup campaign and has already picked up Arturo Lupoli, Anthony Vanden Borre and brought back Valeri Bojinov from his loan spell at Juventus.

Legendary transfer guru Pantaleo Corvino has been spotted in Holland this week where he's believed to have scouted out England defender Taylor.

The Newcastle United man featured against Italy in the 2-2 draw for the European Under-21 Championships.

Fiorentina are looking further afield for their reinforcements in defence, as Palermo have put obstacles in their path towards Andrea Barzagli, instead hoping to send him towards Juventus.

'We have received offers from both Fiorentina and Juventus, so we just need to wait and see what Palermo make of the situation,' revealed Barzagli's agent Claudio Orlandini.

'If it's up to him, Andrea would go to Fiorentina without a moment's hesitation.'

[toonmagic9]

hopefully the toon have got more ambition than to become a selling club, especially our best defender for a no of years. Maybe fiorentina want to buy the league a differant way this season