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Southampton decided to cash in on Manolo Gabbiadini during the January transfer window, but manager Ralph Hasenhuttl should be feeling sick after seeing what the 27-year-old did for new club Sampdoria on Sunday.
Despite making a brilliant start to his Saints career following his move from Napoli at the beginning of 2017, the Italy international quickly struggled for form from the start of the following campaign onwards and eventually returned to his home country for an undisclosed fee last month.
The striker only played 15 minutes of football after the Austrian succeeded Mark Hughes at St Mary’s in December, and he failed to make the matchday squad in the Premier League at all following that outing in the 1-0 defeat to Cardiff City in Hasenhuttl’s first match in charge.
Gabbiadini was largely a favourite among the south coast outfit’s supporters given how he hit the ground running initially and scored two in the EFL Cup finals shortly after arriving, and he often seemed to be on a different – and more clever – wavelength to the majority of his teammates.
It is unclear whether the Saints boss didn’t fancy him or whether he was seen as a sellable asset as the club looked to raise funds, but he has made a big impression for Sampdoria already.
The 27-year-old came off of the substitutes’ bench to net an equaliser – his second in five appearances for them – for the Serie A outfit in their 2-1 defeat against Inter Milan at the San Siro, despite only being on the pitch for 16 minutes.
In that time he had two efforts on goal, put two crosses into the box and completed one clearance.
While he may not have started the game, he showed that goalscoring instinct that Southampton are really lacking right now – none of their specialist strikers have found the net since Shane Long did in the 2-1 win against Leicester City on January 12.
Fellow attacker Nathan Redmond has stepped up to the plate but following injury issues for Danny Ings and Michael Obafemi, Hasenhuttl had to rely on the goal-shy Long and Charlie Austin during the defeat to Cardiff City at St Mary’s last time out, which left them in the relegation zone prior to the trip to Arsenal this weekend.
Given those issues in the final third, the 51-year-old manager should be feeling more than a little ill having seen Gabbiadini’s goalscoring display.
