He was not a record signing, but he has been fantastic of course. I'm talking... Alan McCloughlin Neil Shipperly David Hirst etc
Osvaldo left out of Juventus squad to face Inter Milan due to poor fitness: http://www.football-italia.net/44701/conte-orders-osvaldo-regime
We should use the Roma watch thread to monitor Dani & the Old lady. I liked that thread, well till mid November anyway.
Hardly surprising he is not match fit spends his time injured or suspended, I want him to do well there because they will want to sign him and it will keep his price up.
I don't quite understand those who feel we'll make a loss, particularly a significant one, on Osvaldo. Regardless of how things have panned out we have a top international striker under contract. Signing him at all was a coup that was probably entirely down to his relationship with Poch. "Bad eggs" are never viewed as such by those who wish to secure their services, only those who are keen to dispense with them. A few goals for Juve and a good display at the World Cup and I suspect we could make a healthy return.
You are right Bovril but it is a 50:50 'If' If he punches Blatter as he is introduced to him in the line-ups, we won't get 50p. He should get a knighthood if he does though
If he does well at Juve and for Italy at the WC we'll make a profit. If he does one or the other I think we'll make a smaller profit. If he becomes "The man who twatted Blatter" we'll not get a bean unless we've got intellectual property rights on books/movies sewn up in his contract. Then we'll get Bale money!
Juventus would have to let their option lapse in order for his world cup performances to matter. Arguably they might not want him even if he does well for them. I reckon they could potentially stand to make a profit on him just by signing him up and selling him on though.
If there were that many teams that wanted Osvaldo and that he would play for, we would have just sold him. He wouldn't be gong to Juventus on a free loan to be what is likely a backup to LLorente and Tevez. Every team knows that we are desperate to get rid of him, so why should they offer full price? Osvaldo himself knows we don't want him back and can thus hold us hostage by refusing the contracts of any teams other than the destination of his choice. And it seems to me that Osvaldo didn't sign cheap for MP because of their relationship, but rather the reverse. No one else was willing to pay that Roma that much for Osvaldo k except for us, because we thought he could work with Osvaldo. Osvaldo only took it because he was desperate to leave Roma and it looks like he only ever wanted to use us as a temporary stepping stone. Now that he's screwed us over, there are no more bridges left unburnt; there is not another MP out there. The only way Juventus would pick up Osvaldo's option is if they wanted to sell him on. And he would probably have to be worth 25m for them to take that risk because Osvaldo might hold them hostage as well. And there is no way Osvaldo will ever be worth 25m with his track record, plus he's unlikely to even start for Juve so it's not like he can prove himself on the pitch.
Apparently Conte is crazy about Osvaldo and followed him all of his career. I can see Juve buying him for about €13m so a 3-4m loss.
I think the fact no-one else really wanted him was at least as much of a factor as him having a good relationship with Pochettino, so the "bad egg" factor was certainly in effect.
And he's still with us. Never has an injury been better timed. Yeah, I'm disappointed in Osvaldo. I think he had the makings of being a great player for Saints, but he certainly has to curb that hair-trigger anger response. I know players get plenty of provocation on the pitch, and they are in a high state of attention already, but he has to put some sort of mantra or mechanism in place in order to stop him exploding at any given point. Saying that, his delight at scoring, and the huge smiles and hugs he would give his teammates when they scored, shows that underneath that anger is a team player who may even return [though I doubt it]. On a personal point, if I was a professional and had to play in British weather all the time I'd be angling for a return to Serie A, as well.
He didn't like English football. I'm sure he liked the team winning, but I think he felt that he was good enough to succeed without changing his play. Our team pass to anyone in the right position and don't care who scores...I think he wanted to be the main man. Remember that was the argument he had with Lamella at Roma. He is an individualist and not so much a team player. Remember when he got involved with the Newcastle coach...he was being held back by Chambers...an eighteen year old had more sense than he had. Not worth disturbing our team for the few goals he would get or even for any possible money loss.
Morotta the Juve chief has said they got Osvaldo to make competition. Also said Dani reduced his wages to join them and the $19m is arbitrary and want to see how he adapts.
Yeah, it seems/seemed like both Oavaldo and Ramirez are really happy when our team scores (as opposed to some money motivated footballers), but Osvaldo didn't seem like much of a team player, although he did show signs of being a decent finisher, in fairness.
Of course we will never know if he would have settled better if he had started scoring quickly. Some of his bad behaviour may have stemmed from frustration. Or he could just be an idiot.
