Would love to sign ings would be good to get a saints fan on board. But unproven at this level and a gamble.
Burnley are going up so I'd be surprised if we were able to get him. If they go down straight away (and he's had a good season), maybe.
He's going into the last year of his contract, if he won't sign a new one with them they will have to sell or let him go on a free next summer. So basically he holds all the cards.
It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that he may be the new star striker next season. Gawd 'elp us..!
Which brings the Q... Would you take Osvaldo back? Provided the players gave it their blessing, I'd be tempted to say yes...
No. I was against us signing him from the start (Which I will be holding over everyone in future just as Dan's Lovren comments, which I definitely didn't totally back him up on, are held over him) to be honest, and then when he played he was pretty naff I felt, we all knew already he has that kind of City wondergoal in his locker but his general play was poor. I would be willing to forgive that and give him more time to settle to release his true potential, but he's buggered that up for himself. When we signed him I was very apprehensive but open to him surprising me, but if we let him back in next season I would be actively disappointed.
With Cortese gone, it might be easier to offload him. We have all seen what a disruptive influence in the dressing-room can do to teams. At the moment Saints players are united as a team - that is their strength so why disrupt it with a player who may well divide the playing staff again? If he goes I do think it may well be for a knock down price.
Forget how much he cost and his obvious talent, there is one reason alone why he will never be accepted back into the Saints' fold. That is because he assaulted a popular senior member of the playing staff and he won't be forgiven by them. Some have likened his situation to Jason Puncheon's, but that was totally different, Punch never had a run in with the other players, only Nicola Cortese.
If the players are happy to have him back, I don't see why I should mind. I question whether the players would actually want him bacK, however. I remember last summer when the Osvaldo and Banega rumors were in full swing saying that I thought those types of signing were risky and wasn't sure about them. The majority sentiment seemed to be that we just needed talented players and MP could sort them out. Funny how now it's all about "team" and "no bad apples."
