I haven't been paying this much attention to any smoke coming out of Italy since the last time they were electing a new pope. And it may be just me and my wishful thinking, but it sure looks like this smoke is starting to turn white. That could mean two things: either we have a tremendously large and wet and possibly Zinc-laden grass fire in Milan or there's been further progress in the potential Fernado Torres to AC Milan divine miracle.

Let's go with the latter.

...Galliani has three-year agreement with the Spanish striker, given in London by the leaders of the Blues: unlocks if you exceed the knot of severance pay. The pieces, even with all due caution, they are going slowly in their place. The mosaic is not yet complete, but yesterday Fernando Torres made further steps towards Milan. The highlight was lunch time: around 13 the CEO. AC Milan Galliani, accompanied by the organizing director Umberto Gandini, met in an office not far from the old headquarters in Via Turati agent of Spanish, Margarita Garay, in turn accompanied by the representative of the Italian boy, Gabriele Giuffrida, and his spokesman Antonio Sanz One hour meeting (after which the agent said , "I am always positive" ) served to reaffirm the entourage of the player, yes, and to Milan to put on the table the offer: two-year loan with the option for the third year of the contract. -source: Gazzetta dello Sport via Google Translate

Di Marzio ran with a similar story yesterday, but he was claiming a permanent deal, while the above is just a loan with a permanent option at the end. Tomato, tomato, I suppose. Either way, the whole severance business still needs to be taken care of.

But it sounds like there's definite progress. Which is good, considering the supposed deadline of noon Saturday for Chelsea to respond, and the transfer window ending on Monday.

But wait! There's more. Call now and...

Buried in the Gazzetta story is this juicy tidbit:

The emissaries of Torres yesterday after meeting [with Juve's Sporting Director] Fabio Paratici (but no mention of Torres) [...] were also seen with [Roma Director] Walter Sabatini. This time with Torres on the agenda.

The paper floats Roma as perhaps being back in the picture (or perhaps we're talking Mattia Destro), while Juventus word associates immediately with Paul Pogba. Why we would be using Torres's "emissaries" to do any such business is beyond me, but it's fun to dream, no?