Montella set to leave AS Roma's Batistuta festival

The imminent arrival of striking legend Gabriel Batistuta has already started to unsettle his rivals in the AS Roma squad.

The £22 million deal was sealed overnight on Monday in Buenos Aires and gives Batistuta a three year contract in the capital.

The future of current Italian international Vincenzo Montella looks bleak after just one season in Rome. The forward joined Roma from Sampdoria last summer and has played a good first season under coach Fabio Capello but his place is now directly under threat after the purchase of 'Batigoal'.

Montella is training with Italy's Euro 2000 squad at La Coverciano outside Florence and scored twice in the practice match arranged by coach Dino Zoff yesterday. he is a contender to at least play some part of an Oslo friendly on Saturday night against Norway.

Roma won a tough race to sign Montella but their attention is now focussed on new hero Batistuta. Parma AC, Inter and Juventus would all be keen to sign the sharp finisher Montella if he decided to quit the new Batistuta-dominated Roma club. Montella favours a move to Inter according to friends.