Glovers manager Gary Johnson has announced that striker Pablo Bastianini's international clearance has finally been received by the club from the Argentinian FA, enabling the 22-year-old to play competitive matches at last.
As has been detailed on these pages the story of the Glovers attempts to obtain international clearance for the striker has been a tale of delay and frustration added to obfuscation and not a little mystery, but it now seems that we have a happy ending at last, largely due to the efforts of the player himself and agent Chris Adedeji, who took it upon themselves to fly to Argentina in order to make certain the correct paperwork was being processed. Pablo and Chris are now expected to arrive back in Britain this afternoon and the player should be available for Saturday's League One match at Barnsley.
Speaking to the club's official site, the Gaffer said: "Great news - we have at last received the international clearance for Pablo Bastianini from the Argentinian F.A. Pablo and his advisors promised us that they would get it sorted out if they travelled back to Argentina and to be fair to them that is exactly what they have done. As we speak at 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday morning he is in the air travelling back to the U.K. and hopes to be landing sometime this afternoon. It's obviously a great bonus for us going into this run of 4 games in 8 or 9 nine days including the Carling Cup game at Ipswich. It's a timely return and a great addition to our squad of course.
"There have been times when I have been very frustrated by the situation with Pablo missing three games, so now he has to get himself back into the routine very quickly and show us what we know he can do. I must give credit to Pablo and Chris though, for taking charge of the whole thing and making things happen. I think it shows Pablo's and Chris's commitment to the club and the deal and they have both come out of it with flying colours. But one man doesn't win a game for you of course and the team needs to be pulling out all the stops as well, but to have an experienced goal scorer around the team is a great bonus.
"There is still competition in the squad and I have been pleased with Matt Harrold's performances up front. He has been showing us that he can play at this level and we have learnt something from Pablo's absence and Matty has shown he is competing for that spot. We also have Phil Jevons and Arron Davies who can play in the strikers role as can Kevin Gall and David Poole if needed."
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17 August 2005 : 
