West Ham United boss David Moyes is eyeing a reunion with Fabio Borini at the London Stadium with his AC Milan contract due to expire this month, according to Calciomercato.
For Sunderland fans, even the mere mention of this workaholic forward is likely to elicit a wide range of responses.
On one hand, Borini produced some of the finest moments in the recent history of a perennially underachieving football club, opening the scoring in a League Cup final and channelling his inner-Kevin Phillips with that wonder-goal winner against bitter rivals Newcastle United.
But 17 goals in 93 games was more Milton Nunez than ‘super Kev’.
And when Sunderland finally succumbed to an inevitable and drawn-out relegation in 2017, a striker who never came close to justifying his £10 million price-tag was one of the first to jump ship, joining AC Milan in a move that not even Psychic Sally could have predicted.
Four years later, with Borini due to become a free-agent at the end of August, he could be heading back to England in a reunion with a coach who knows him better than most.
“Fabio we know can score goals, he’s got good energy,” Moyes told the Chronicle during their time together on Wearside.
The admiration was not exactly mutual, however, with Borini openly criticising his manager for his reluctance to hand the former Liverpool youngster a run of games in his favoured centre-forward role.
If Moyes comes calling again, you’d imagine Borini would seek guarantees about his playing time, and his position, at West Ham.
The 29-year-old produced his best football in years during a loan spell at Hellas Verona last season and even scored a winner against Juventus – as a number nine, no less.
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