Oxford United could soon have a Diaz in their team.

Manager Ramon's two sons have been training with the team this week.

Elder son, Emiliano, a 21-year-old right-sided midfielder, has already played for River Plate and is understood to have a high technical level.

Younger son Michael, 18, is a strong defender, but may not yet be ready for English League level.

Emiliano played in River Plate's first team as a 19-year-old two years ago and has since played for Cordoba in Argentina and in Uruguay.

Ramon was not at the pre-match press conference ahead of tonight's Coca-Cola League Two game at Grimsby, but is flying in today.

He has been in Italy, looking at potential new signings and "accelerating" his passport arrangements, said a source.

Although Argentinian, United's new manager has an Italian wife - they also have a house near Venice - and after eight years living in Italy, he may have Italian citizenship qualifications.

His friend, Jean Marc Goiran, who has acted as the go-between in the deal which has brought the Argentinians to Oxford, said Diaz was also looking at one Italian player in particular, someone he had identified as able to stren- gthen the team.

He would not be signed in time for the Grimsby game, but could be here for the Christmas period.

Horacio Rodriguez said he and his team of coaches were working to improve the Oxford United players.

"The players' attitude towards the games is good, physically they are very up for it," he said, through a translator." "It is a bit difficult because they are always wanting to go forward, and we have had to work on sometimes having a defensive mentality so they do not get caught on the counter-attack when they keep going forward.

"Football here is a little different to the way it is in South America. It's a lot more technical there, whereas here it's more physical.

"We don't want to make them Brazilian or Argentinian, but we do want to try to take them to a higher technical level. They already have a very good understanding of team shape."

Rodriguez, himself a top player for Estudiantes de la Plata and River Plate, where he played as libero - he described George Best as the best player in the world he ever played against - revealed a little more about the coaching team chairman Firoz Kassam has brought in.

"We were all together at River Plate, working as a team," he said.

"After Ramon left River Plate two years ago we have travelled a lot in Argentina, looking at the best young players and trying to work with them. But often they never live up to their work."

And Rodriguez said he, along with Diaz, had tried for some time to get involved in British football. He has also coached Nimes in France, when Eric Cantona was in the team.

"We looked at Arsenal with Arsene Wenger and then at QPR and looked at their games," he said.

"In South America people are very well informed about British football, and from my experience so far, it is good to live in England."