Dani Osvaldo has only been trouble since arriving at St. Mary’s in August of 2013. Osvaldo originally came to Southampton after Mauricio Pochettino campaigned for his former striker at RCD Espanyol to join him on the South Coast. But the Italian never matched his £15 million price tag on the field and cost the club much more grief with his deranged actions on and off the pitch.
The saga began when Osvaldo was involved in a touchline scuffle with Newcastle players December of 2013 near the end of the match after a late Schneiderlin tackle. He was charged with violent conduct by the FA.
Not even two months later, Osvaldo got into an altercation with current Southampton Captain Jose Fonte during a training session; headbutting him and giving Jose a nasty black eye. Osvaldo was subsequently suspended and fined by the club; then sent on loan to Italian giant Juventus. Osvaldo was relatively quiet at Juventus and failed to make an impression on the pitch and, quite oddly, the headlines. Osvaldo finished the 2013-14 season with Juventus scoring 3 goals in 18 appearances for the club.
He then moved onto, rivals Inter Milan. Osvaldo’s quick temper and bad attitude soon showed itself at the San Siro as he missed training for two consecutive days resulting in a suspension. In the subsequent weeks it became more obvious he did not get along with fellow striker Maruo Icardi. The last straw came in January of this year when he confronted Icardi during a match against Juventus after he did not receive the ball on a counter attack.
The Italian International then returned to his home country of Argentina in a loan deal, to Boca Juniors. Inevitably, trouble soon followed when Argentine tabloid Cronica reported that he was caught sneaking women into his hotel before the first game. On the field he excelled for the Argentine club scoring 7 goals in 13 appearances.
Boca manager Rodolfo Arruabarrena was recently quoted in Reuters saying “I’ve already spoken to the president, there’s an economic situation involved and we’ll have to see.” The 29-year-old’s future is still up in the air with a potential move to Turkey rumoured. The Mirror reported earlier that the Juniors will not extend the loan, but we will see if this changes in the next few days after the manager’s cloudy comments. Rumours have surfaced that he could be moving to the MLS, specifically the New York Red Bulls, but Coach Jesse Marsch quickly shut down these rumours down telling the media he did not even know who the player was.
Osvaldo’s contract lasts until 2017 so the headache will continue for the Saints for the foreseeable future. Southampton must consider allowing him to go for a cut-rate price or buying out his contract so they can release the Italian striker who has been nothing but trouble since arriving in 2013.
