I'm not the incredible memory man, but wasn't it Mannini? Who, I believe, came at almost zero cost to us. As you say Matrecano was excellent, no previous bad injury record, just unluckily picked up a bad one with us. Petrachi was brilliant, but didn't fancy the job. It happens. I don't think the cost to the club was as large as the popular perception of the time.
And he looked ancient, which in footballing terms he was - he made his senior debut in 1980 and by the time he joined us was going into his 19th year of professional football in one of the fastest and most physical leagues in the world. No wonder he immediately broke down.
I remember being at Portman Road on opening day when Mannini made his debut. David Johnson handed his arse to him that day - scored twice I think. Couldn't get near him.