At time of writing Dani Osvaldo's future at Saints looks very uncertain however every cloud has a silver lining and events might just have saved Rickie Lambert's future at the club.
Back in September I warned that the arrival of Osvaldo might well spell the end of Rickie Lambert at St Mary's at least as first choice striker, I felt then that the formation Saints employed would mean there wasn't room for both of them and that with a World Cup year looming, neither would be happy with a supporting role, that being the case you don't pay £15 million for a player as back up.
The problem since then though is that Mauricio Pochettino has sat on the fence a little, initially trying to play both men in the side which had the effect that neither played to their potential, we were winning games at the times so it was overlooked by the fans , but the problem was that neither was scoring goals and eventually there would be confrontation.
Rickie Lambert has been great during the whole saga, he must have been concerned about his future in the club, let alone his chances of making the England squad for Brazil, but there were no complaints, he just got on with things even though the roles he was being asked to play for the most part didn't suit or utilise his talents.
Osvaldo on the other hand went pretty much down the road his history suggested it would, although in fairness to him it took several months for that to happen, I do have some sympathy for him here, clearly when he came he was given assurances about what his role would be in the team and clearly he like Lambert hasn't been used in the way he would have have insisted upon before agreeing to join us, it took us many months to persuade him, of course money would have been the sweetener, but he had made it clear to Roma that he wanted to play as the central striker and no one else, he would not join a club unless they were prepared to offer him that role, so I can understand why he would fell frustration and now that frustration has turned to violence twice, at Newcastle and on the Saints training ground.
So what happens next, well according to the Daily Echo before he left Nicola Cortese was on the verge of selling Lambert to West Ham, when you look at Saints signings over the , past 18 months a big signing coming in has usually meant the player in his position has been left out in the cold, think Sharp when Mayuka signed, Cork when Wanyama arrived, with Rickie Lambert someone felt that he was too big in the eyes of the fans to do this whilst he was at the club, if Osvaldo had arrived well before the end of the August transfer window then it would have perhaps happened then, so it was on the cards for January.
I would imagine that the player himself would have, if not welcomed a move, been relieved, over the past three months or so Rickie's name has slipped out of the frame a little for England, like Osvaldo he needed to be playing as a lone central striker for Saints to force his way into his country's squad in that role. If Osvaldo is frustrated then Rickie must be ten times more, Osvaldo's signing has set the pace, Rickie has just had to like it or lump it.
So the events of the past week or so will undoubtably open the door for Rickie, Osvaldo's suspension puts in doubt his future at the club, but Nicola Cortese's departure makes the Italian's chances of being offloaded much more likely to happen, with Cortese still here the pressure would be on to keep the club record signing and ditch Lambert, to sell Osvaldo with Cortese here that would cast aspersions on the wisdom of signing him and the buck would stop with the Chairman, most Chairmen in this position would stay on the path of hoping that time would see the signing working out, after all some take longer than others and in football terms half a season isnt a long time.
With Cortese gone though it is a lot easier for those now in charge at the club to write Osvaldo off as an expensive mistake that ultimately sees questions asked about who signed him and strengthens the case as to why Cortese had to go.
So it could be Rickie that reaps the benefit, a fortnight ago he was probably 90% certain to go, now he is probably nearer that percentage to stay, Saints cannot afford to risk Osvaldo for the rest of the season not blowing up again and leaving us very short up front.
But the question will still remain long term for Rickie, the formation that Pochettino plays is very fluid and requires mobility from the players and the ability to rotate positions, this is not Rickie's game, he is an out and out striker, yes he can pass a ball but in the Premier League you cant afford to carry someone in a midfield role who hasn't got that pace and mobility needed, it doesn't suit Rickie and to be blunt although it can work for short periods in a game, it isn't ideal for either player of the good of the team.
Next season might be different though in that after the World Cup Rickie might be happy to be in a more squad role and he could be very effective doing that, but in the next few month's with Brazil looming that will not help his England chances.
So if Saints decide to cut their losses with Osvaldo then the main beneficiary will be Rickie Lambert, it will not be the way he would have wanted to see things happen, but he will be relieved for the opportunity and will look to take it with both hands.