I just recall Soriano being quite good when he played as an AM last year. I might be wrong there. He played about a dozen games last year in that position and always looked decent there. I haven't seen enough of him I guess.
The only reason Hernanes might be better than Saponara as a signing for us is that Saponara would probably cost quite a bit more at this stage of the Mercato being a very important young player for Empoli. I like his style of play better. He does attack quite a bit and maybe isn't quite as creative as others, but he does provide that link from midfield to attack in bringing the ball forward, something we saw yesterday once Pereyra was on the pitch, and which made us look so much better.
I suppose I'm just disappointed that we're signing a mediocre 30 year old Inter reject in the position that was identified as the most important to fill this summer. Oh well. I hope I'm wrong and Hernanes revives his career here.
It is dissapointing and he is a reject (though Mancini is a moron, he shouldnt be rejected for awful players like Brozovic), but on footballing terms, he is better equipped and skilled then Soriano (just a decent all around runner really) and Saponara. Defenitely you would been dissapointed alot more with Saponara if he was the panic buy (he litterally is only about half a season of good footie for lowly Empoli), its the emotional ride of this all governing us right now to see anything else as just better right now. But at the least, if we calm down, hopefully you will realize its not that drastic that half decent young players arent just automatically better because we dont have them. Hernanes is older and slower, but technically and creatively is better player then both for sure. His problem is he is merely a good player, not a top one as we and Inter needed for the AM position.
I was extremely alarmed to see you say you would prefer Soriano, so regardless of if we get Hernanes or not, you should watch clips of Hernanes for therapeutic reasons