While the rumour has been brewing for months now, it looks like Southeast are getting very close to signing 2008 World Champion Alessandro Ballan, following his suspension ending in 2015, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport.

In December, Ballan was acquitted from any wrongdoing in the Mantova doping investigation, that stemmed back from his time with Lampre-ISD.

The Italian initially said that if he hadn’t signed for a team by December 20, he would retire. But he has kept training and La Gazzetta reports that a final decision will be made next week on the deal.