When Jan Bednarek joined Aston Villa on a season long loan, he made several comments that enraged Southampton supporters, however on his return to St Mary's Saints boss Nathan Jones has no issues with what he said.
Anyone who say Jan Bednarek play for Saints in pre season saw a player with an attitude, whether it was that he felt he was being pushed out after the signing of Armando Bella Kotchap or he had fallen out with Ralph Hasenhuttl has not been confirmed but Bednarek was a man with a chip on his shoulder.
In a friendly against Watford played at Wealdstone, Bednarek appeared to be at odds with his team mates during the game and after whilst they went over and acknowledged a band of travelling Saints supporters he remained alone with a water bottle and eventually only went over when cajoled by another player.
He started the opening two games for Saints playing the full 90 minutes at Spurs on the opening day and then the first 70 mins against Leeds before being hauled off with the team 2-0 down, afterwards they recovered to earn a 2-0 draw.
He would be an unused sub in the next 3 Premier League games for the club although he did get the full 90 in at Cambridge in the Carabao Cup.
He seemingly had two choices to leave on loan, Villa and West Ham, he chose the Midlands and was gushing in his praise of Villa, so much so you would have thought that he was the club's record signing rather than just a season long loan.
It was these words that now come back to haunt him, ironically he would play only 94 minutes of Premier League football for Villa neither Steven Gerrard or Unai Emery seemingly fancying him as a player, these were spread over 3 games and his only start saw him hauled off at half time.
This was less than the 160 minutes he had got under his belt for Saints in the opening week of the Premier League season, suddenly his dream move had turned into a nightmare, he managed to scrape into the Poland World Cup squad, but was now a fringe player where once he had been first choices and his only action was a few minutes at the end of their final game.
Now though he is back at St Mary's and looking to kick start his season and indeed perhaps his career under a new manager at the club.
Nathan Jones for his part is in a conciliary mood with the return of Bednarek and he has made an attempt to put his past comments into perspective:
"We spoke about it but he’s an experienced international player, I understand why there will be [a potentially awkward reception] but let’s take some context. Some people say some stuff when they go somewhere and it just happens.
"You just say it because you want to endear yourself. Sometimes you don’t think or sometimes you don’t think about what the collateral damage could be behind you but there was no malice about it.
"He loves the club, he’s very popular in the changing room, and he worked very very hard for Southampton. It wasn’t anything to do with the club. He probably just wanted to endear himself to Aston Villa and that’s how I would see it."
In truth the Saints manager is right, what was Bednarek supposed to say when joining Villa ? yes perhaps he could have been more tactful towards Southampton who after all were still his parent club, but as Nathan Jones says he is trying to endear himself to what he then thinks will be his home supporters for the rest of the season.
What reception he gets will depend on two things, firstly what he says on returning to St Mary's this week and going forward and secondly his attitude and performances should he be selected for the team.
Football is a fickle game, heroes can become villains (no pun intended) very quickly and prodigal sons are often welcomed back into the fold even after being the subject of abuse from those who once worshipped them.
The first question is whether he will play some part of the game against Newcastle United this evening and on this subject Nathan Jones has had this to say:
"Well, he played in the FA Cup a couple of weeks ago and he played 90 minutes. I know it wasn't a Premier League game, but it was against Stevenage, who I know are an energetic team, as Steve Evans' sides are, I know all about them," Jones said.
"He is in a place where he is in contention, whether he starts or play 90 minutes is a different thing. But he has to get up to speed sooner rather than later. We can take calculated risks and gambles with players, but I doubt he is ready for 90 minutes [against Newcastle]. But he could be for 60 or 65 minutes and we have got the squad that can handle that."
So it looks like Bednarek could play some part tonight whether that is on the bench or coming on in the final third of the game to shore things up, the reception he gets will I suspect be non committal, I think Saints supporters will be willing to give him a chance, whether that good will continues and they are willing to forgive and forget will hinge on how well he plays in the coming weeks.
If it is the Jan Bednarek of previous season's that is back then he will be welcomed, if it is the sulky attitude ridden man of last August then it will be very sad to see !