I'd rather we loaned him out to a team that wasn't one of our PL rivals. i.e a team in a foreign league.
It's not as if we've loaned out Suarez...he would be a sub for us at best, the club obviously don't see it as giving Hull a massive advantage or don't see Hull as a rival. I am, however, also surprised he didn't go abroad. I suspect this will be his last hurrah...a good season leading to a return to the continent.
I don't really mind as he won't be playing against us. He may help Hull to achieve a good position this year however it will help Hull take points off our rivals. I feel it's a positive move for Southampton as loaning him to a fellow PL team gives him the time to hopefully adapt to the physicality. Loaning him to Serie A or La Liga would do nothing and prove nothing to us.
But will it help Hull take points of our rivals? Gaston + Huddlestone doesn't make for much energy in the area between DM and striker. Can Hull afford to play them together?
We'll have to wait and see I don't think Gaston will be playing with Huddlestone in the middle. He will be up top behind the striker or beside a player like Livermore.
Was a tad surprised by this move.......Having spent close on £25 mill + on two players (Gaston and Osvaldo) and both seemingly not made the grade with us seems a huge waste of funds.......... Don't think he will ever play for Saints again....but who knows?
I meant Huddlestone will be behind Gaston. I wouldn't fancy that combination. They both tend to take a 'breather(s)' during the game.
The power of hindsight is a wonderful thing Beddytare. No manager ever really knows if signings will be a success. I have upset the recruitment guys on here before by saying that I think recruitment is 50:50. You can take actions/precautions and think you have married up all the requirements, but in the end... you just don't know.
I just hope he steps it up for Hull and shows what he can do over 90mins instead of the odd 20/30 min cameo here and there. I will be keeping a closer eye on Hull now for this reason. I'm not overly worried by them though, I think they will be a team that win the odd big game like us but I feel we are stronger and will finish a couple of place higher than them. I predicted Saints finishing 12-14th this season but I'm confident we'll grab a top half finish again.
I reckon Osvaldo would have settled if he'd scored a few early goals...he couldn't cut the fact that it wasn't that easy to score in the PL and that he had to work hard. Hurt his pride. If he'd started scoring freely, he would have enjoyed it more and played better etc etc. A different and perhaps inferior player may have just slotted in without a problem. Gaston has had too many injuries and the team evolved without him...luckily, he doesn't have Osvaldo's temperament.
I think we should be guided by the length of the Saint X! thread on this board. From memory, the longest ones in recent years have been Saint Gaston!, Saint Davide!, and Saint Dani! Look how well they all turned out.
