Salernitana manager Paulo Sousa is hoping to reintroduce striker Boulaye Dia back into his team this weekend and help them to move on from the transfer debacle with Wolverhampton Wanderers this summer.
That’s according to Corriere dello Sport, who say the manager is relying on the return of his star man to turn around a disappointing start to the season.
Dia has been out of the picture at the beginning of this season after the late drama around his failed move to Wolves at the end of the summer transfer window.
For those that don’t know, Wolves made a bid to add him to their squad on deadline day of the summer window, sending over a loan offer to the Italian club.
This was rejected outright, and then later ridiculed by Salernitana but didn’t go down well with the player, who made it very clear that he would have preferred to move to Molineux.
He didn’t take it well at all and even threatened not to play until January, going on strike and even refusing to turn up at one point.
The situation was eventually resolved thanks to mediation earlier this month, but he’s only managed 25 minutes in the 1-0 defeat to Empoli.
Without him his side have struggled, with no win in their first six games of the season and three points from a possible 18.
That’s heaped the pressure on manager Paulo Sousa and Corriere now state that he ‘relaunches’ the striker this weekend in a hope to turn around his side’s fortunes.
The newspaper explains that he’s been working on a new system with Dia as part of a forward two, as well as working on the unity and togetherness in the squad.
That had been seriously hampered by Dia’s failed move to Wolves and the subsequent fallout, something which Sousa is now hoping they can put firmly behind them, starting this weekend.
