Having not made an appearance for Southampton since 2013, many fans on the South Coast may have forgotten the name Pablo Osvaldo.
But the fact remains: He has two years remaining on his contract and until then is a Southampton player.
Signed by Southampton in August of 2013, Osvaldo became the club’s record signing with a £15 million fee forked over to AS Roma for his signature. Boasting an impressive record across the previous few seasons he spent with Espanyol and the Giallorossi, Osvaldo seemed like a good fit for the Saints at 27 years of age. The deal seemed to be motivated by then-Saints manager Mauricio Pochettino’s history of managing Osvaldo at Espanyol.
Despite showing so much promise as a signing, Osvaldo has given Southampton little and has spent the last year-and-a-half out on loan, with stints in Italy at Juventus and Internazionale and most recently in Argentina, his country of birth. There, he played for Boca Juniors.
The Good
Since his time with Espanyol, firstly on loan and then as a permanent signing, Osvaldo has maintained a reasonable goalscoring record. Before signing for Southampton in 2013, the frontman’s record at his previous two clubs was 49 goals from 103 appearances, a rate of a goal every 2.1 games.
Three goals in 13 outings for Southampton and a total of 16 in 52 throughout his various loan deals offers a much less impressive rate of a goal every 3.42 games. Yet this is still something one could hardly sniff at. Current Saints marksman Graziano Pellè had a scoring rate of a goal every 2.75 games, which would drop to 5.25 for 2015 alone. Osvaldo’s record for the 2014-15 season was a goal every 2.61 appearances.
The Bad
Osvaldo has not been able to string together three consecutive 90 minute appearances since playing for the Saints in September of 2013 and, despite his goalscoring ability, has struggled to maintain consistent levels of performance.
Of all the leagues the Argentina-born striker has plied his trade in, the Premier League seems to be the only one he has struggled to suit with the man himself admitting he had trouble adapting. Whilst only a very small window to sample his performance, it does not bode well should Ronald Koeman choose to keep him at the club.
The Ugly
Throughout his career, Osvaldo has consistently become involved in fights and disputes with both managers and teammates.
On 25 November 2011, Osvaldo allegedly punched Roma teammate Érik Lamela in the face for not passing him the ball. In that club’s 2013 Coppa Italia final loss to Lazio, the striker was reported to have shouted at and abused coach Aurelio Andreazzoli for only giving him 15 minutes of playing time. As a result, the striker refused to attend the Coppa Italia awards ceremony in protest of his manager’s decision, taking to Twitter to criticise Andreazzoli. The comments made led to then-Italian national team coach Cesare Prandelli dropping him from the Azzurri squad.
The Italian further damaged his reputation after being fined £40,000 and being banned for three matches for violent conduct during a touchline tussle during a game against Newcastle United. Three weeks later, Southampton announced it had suspended Osvaldo for two weeks after an undisclosed training ground incident which was purported as being a fight with José Fonte. Osvaldo was reportedly the instigator.
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During his time with Inter, the troublesome striker was suspended after unexplained absences from two consecutive training sessions whilst previously having a falling out with strike partner Mauro Icardi, problems that ultimately ended in the early termination of his loan.
Like another famously ill-disciplined yet talented Italian striker we know, Osvaldo has shown he has the ability to cut it as a top-level frontman but the major issue is his attitude. Saints manager Ronald Koeman is now faced with a dilemma of whether to keep the Italian on the books with a third consecutive season out on loan a plausible but unlikely option.
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