Rocker Dani set to go on the attack
SOUTHAMPTON have landed their very own Street Fighting Man following the arrival of record signing Pablo Daniel Osvaldo. The huge Rolling Stones fan, who goes by the nickname ‘Dani’, has been involved in his fair share of bust-ups with former team-mates and managers. And yesterday the man signed from Roma declared we can expect ‘a lot of rock and roll’ on the football pitch too. But the signing is a kick in the teeth for Rickie Lambert, who has a real scrap on his hands to keep his role as Southampton’s main striker. Last week he struck the winner against Scotland on his England debut and followed that up with a decisive penalty in the club’s opening Premier League game on Saturday. Only 24 hours later the club announced their new record signing of £14.6million Osvaldo.
The Italian once flew from Pescara airport straight after a Roma match and boarded a private jet to London to see his favourite band.
‘I had to go for a doping test after the Roma game so I arrived late at the concert and I was left outside,’ he said at his unveiling. ‘ I still haven’t managed to see them yet.’
The 27-year- old now wants to bring his rock- star ways to England. The £14.6m deal, based on add- on clauses, tops Southampton’s £ 12.5m signing of Victor Wanyama from Celtic last month.
The club are now the third-highest spenders in the top flight this summer with a total outlay of £36m — behind just Manchester City and Tottenham.
A clash at Roma paved the way for his exit. Osvaldo was surprisingly dropped from Roma’s side for the Italian Cup final on May 26, where they lost 1-0 to bitter rivals Lazio. He refused to join the team to receive their runners- up medals and was branded arrogant by caretaker boss Aurelio Andreazzoli. In response Osvaldo (below) called his manager ‘an incompetent’ on Twitter. The following week the player, tipped to become Italy’s first- choice No 9, was dropped from his national Confederations Cup squad.
He has also had punch-ups with team-mates at his previous two clubs. At Roma in 2011 he hit Erik Lamela in the face for not passing him the ball during a game. Before that he had floored Nicola Mingazzini at Bologna during pre-season training.
‘I consider myself a very calm person,’ he said. ‘It’s clear that I’m no angel but I’m not a bad person either.
‘So I think in many instances all the problems in the team were blamed on me, and I think that was completely unfair.’
Mauricio Pochettino must be confident of taming Osvaldo, having already managed the striker at Espanyol, which the forward remembers fondly. ‘The season at Espanyol was my best,’ he said. ‘I want to repeat that and improve it. I’m confident that will happen.’