QPR could roll the dice on Southampton bad boy for January salvation
Published:
Harry Redknapp has taken his fair share of risks when it comes to the transfer market but the Queens Park Rangers manager may be about to outdo even his finest of efforts with his latest transfer target: Pablo Osvaldo.
From Marco Boogers at West Ham to John Utaka at Portsmouth, the current QPR gaffer’s record is patchy at best with Rs fans no doubt still ruing the more recent purchases of players like Kieron Dyer and Shaun Wright-Phillips.
But Redknapp could be in danger of outdoing even his most audacious of deals this month, after Gianluca Di Marzio reported that Rangers are considering a loan bid for Southampton outcast Pablo Osvaldo.
Signed by the Saints from AS Roma for a hefty £12.8m fee plus add-ons back in the summer of 2013, much was expected from the Italy international, who had notched up 28 goals in 57 outings for the Giallorossi.
But Osvaldo failed to settle on the south coast, scoring just three times in 13 appearances before being sent out on loan to Juventus by the club after getting involved in a training ground altercation with clubcaptain Jose Fonte that left the latter requiring stitches.
Now in the midst of another season-long loan with Inter Milan, where he has scored seven goals in 18 outings for the Nerazzurri, Osvaldo could be on the move again after getting involved in another row with current teammate and Inter star Mauro Icardi.
QPR are on the lookout for goalscoring reinforcements this month and with money tight at the club it is thought that a loan deal would suit best.
Osvaldo would represent a major gamble for Redknapp and could prove a volatile addition to life at Loftus Road with fellow former Serie A bad boy Mauro Zarate already brought in from West Ham on loan.
But with QPR second bottom and without a point on the road in the Premier League, it would appear that desperate times call for desperate measures.
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