/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/36653088/474957583.0.jpg)
Is anyone else getting really bored of the whole Fabio Borini saga now? Don't get me wrong, I still love the splendid little scamp, and it'd be brilliant to see him back in Sunderland's red and white stripes next season, but I really wish he'd make up his mind.
One man who insists he is not worried or frustrated about the whole thing is Gus Poyet. The Black Cats head coach issued an update following the 2-0 friendly win over Real Betis, though you should probably interpret the term in its loosest possible sense. The 'update' is that there isn't really an update. He said:
We're still waiting. There's no more than last week, no more than next week.
We're waiting, but it's still ongoing.
I don't think the word is ‘frustrating' because we knew after he travelled [to the USA for Liverpool's pre-season tour] and the injury that it would take a bit longer.
We'll keep working because we know him very well.
It's very difficult sometimes to spend that kind of money on a player you don't know and you don't know what you're going to get or the character.
If it's a foreigner, he might not adapt quickly etc.
Fabio ticks all the boxes because we know what we're going to get and how important it is for us and the fans as well.
I'm still confident it will happen. For sure, things are not worse. We are in a very good position... waiting.
It's that last step, that little thing that is going to close it. Sometimes it's easy, sometimes it takes a bit longer.
So, basically, the deal is still in the same state as Schrödinger's cat - capable of being perceived as both alive and dead at the same time. Thanks, quantum universe, you unhelpful berk.
Anyway, should there come a time when the flask of poison is eventually accepted to have been broken and the deal is considered dead, Poyet insists he has no problems - ish - with moving on to another target.
The longer it goes, you of course have to start looking for other options because that's my job.
But every time you make a step forwards, you stop because you want Fabio. We'll see.
In the highly unlikely event any of that was any help to anyone, you're welcome. We regret nothing.