Talented footballer? Definitely.
Style icon? Possibly.
Mentally stable? Probably not.
The football hipster's favourite Argentine striker and Southampton's €15m flop Dani Osvaldo has joined Boca Juniors on a two-and-a-half year deal.
Normally the news of a striker who struggled to adapt to life in the Premier League before returning home to Argentina wouldn't make a very interesting topic, but when you consider that this will be Dani Osvaldo's fourth club in four successive transfer windows, you realise that this isn't just any normal player.
Southampton parted with around €15m to bring Osvaldo in from Roma and make him their record signing, but despite the occasional flash of brilliance (such as his incredible winner against Man City) he struggled to adapt to life in England, and decided that he would rather play his football back in Italy, as he said:
English football as a very physical type of game, with really tough tackling.
Poor lad. He also head-butted Southampton captain Jose Fonte in training, but apparently that had nothing to do with it.
Next up for Dani was a January 2014 trip to Turin, where he would join a modern Serie A dynasty in Juventus, who's constant success meant it would always be difficult to break into the first team. And so it proved to be as Osvaldo made only 11 appearances for Juve, scoring just a single goal. Juventus had the option to make his loan move permanent for €19m, but they decided against it.
Again on loan, Osvaldo joined Inter Milan in August 2014 after Ronald Koeman made it clear that he had no place in his Southampton team, and despite five goals in 12 Inter appearances, a falling out with manager Roberto Mancini and a very public falling out with strike partner Mauro Icardi meant that Dani had to find another new club in 2015.
So back home he has gone and he seems much more positive about his latest move, as he said:
If everything goes the right way, I’m fulfilling my life’s dream. I know Boca well and I am enthusiastic. For someone like me, who used to follow Boca as a supporter, this is a dream.
Notice the 'if', I'm sure even he knows that's a big if. Hopefully for him, the Dani Osvaldo Boca adventure is a less controversial one than those which preceded it, but we'll be sure to let you know if it isn't.
via Mirror.co.uk.
