With the benefit of hindsight the acquisition of Dani Osvaldo was an expensive mistake for Southampton FC. Signed for a record £15m, the volatile Argentinian, capped nine times for the ‘Azurri’, (qualifying through a great grandfather), had had disciplinary issues at his previous clubs, but Mauricio Pochettino, who previously managed him at Espanyol, considered his acknowledged prowess and skills in and around the box would trump any wayward behaviour.

He told the Guardian soon after Osvaldo’s arrival, “He will not bite anyone like Luis Suárez – but he does have fire, we are happy with how he is doing and with his behaviour. He is a friendly guy and a good team-mate”. José Fonte would soon beg to differ. After taking a while to settle because of a back problem, no sooner had he started to find the net, including a glorious goal v Manchester City, he got involved in a touchline fracas at Newcastle in mid-December, which ended up with him being found guilty of violent conduct and handed down a £40,000 fine.

Three weeks later he was suspended by the club after a Staplewood contretemps with Fonte ended with Saints captain nursing a black eye.

Within days he had been shipped back to Italy, on loan, and from there his career went into freefall. Even when Saints finally cut their losses and cancelled his contract in the summer of 2015, two years early, he failed to settle at Porto and then back in Argentina, after upsetting his coach by smoking in the Boca changing rooms, he eventually announced his retirement, aged 30, to concentrate on his new career his rock band, ‘Barrio Viego’. He did come out of retirement briefly for an Argentinian club in 2018, suggesting he may have realised turning his back on the game had been premature. It came to nothing but in January 2020 he had another go.