Downing was key in Osbournes switch
10 Nov 2009 - 08:38:09
MARTIN O'NEILL and Stilyan Petrov might have given Isaiah Osbourne the lowdown on Gordon Strachan, but Middlesbrough's new midfielder has revealed that Stewart Downing played a part in encouraging him to move.
Osbourne was handed an immediate Boro debut at Crystal Palace on Saturday, when he was composed and assured just 24 hours after his arrival.
But Strachan intends to make the 21-year-old a key member of his team following the initial two-month loan he agreed last week.
O'Neill still rates the defensive midfielder highly, but injuries have prevented him from making the number of first team appearances that he had been expected to make at Villa Park.
But following Strachan's interest, O'Neill feels the move to the North-East can help to aid Osbourne's development into a midfielder worthy of holding down a place in the top-flight.
O'Neill and Villa team-mate Petrov, who worked with Strachan at Celtic Park, had no qualms about encouraging Osbourne to make the switch.
Downing, after completing a £12m switch to Villa in July, agreed.
I spoke to Stewart before I came to Middlesbrough, said Osbourne.
He obviously knows Middlesbrough inside and out, and he said that it's a great group of lads to be involved with.
For me, though, it was not just about what Stewart had to say because I knew that Middlesbrough were a good club, having watched them in the Premier League over the years. It was also the good things I heard about the manager.
I spoke to Stilyan and Martin O'Neill about the manager.
They both said that he likes teams to play football and that I will see a lot of the ball in his team. I love to get the ball down and play football.
Basically that was what they said to me, if you want to get the ball down and play it on the deck, go and play for Middlesbrough'. I'm looking forward to my time here.
Osbourne has not had much time to work with his new team-mates but he did play alongside David Wheater for England schoolboys.
But while Wheater has made progress on the international stage by going on to play for the Under-21s, Osbourne has endured problems on the injury front.
Having settled quickly at Middlesbrough, however, he is confident that he can now kick-start a career that has only brought him 19 league appearances for Villa and a three-month loan at Nottingham Forest last season.
The one thing that Martin O'Neill wants from me is to score more goals from midfield,
said Osbourne, who has never scored during his four seasons as a pro at Villa. It's something I'm hoping my time at Middlesbrough will improve. I've never been one for scoring many goals but it's an area I would like to add to my game.
It's been difficult being the new man and the new face in the Middlesbrough squad, but all the lads have been supportive since I arrived.
It's been easy for me to settle in. Now I'm just looking to play as many matches as I can while I'm with Middlesbrough.
Middlesbrough, meanwhile, did not want to comment on claims that former manager Gareth Southgate remains on the club's payroll.
Southgate's contract was not due to expire until June 2011 but he was sacked last month when Boro were a point adrift of the Championship leaders.
It has been suggested that Southgate has asked the League Managers' Association to reach a compensation agreement with Boro, but Middlesbrough are reportedly playing hard ball.
