Strange area of the team to be looking to strengthen.
Osbourne has been impressive since he initially came on loan, Flint has been excellent since Cotterill's arrival and in Williams we have a real talent. If we were to revert to four at the back anytime soon (which interest in wingers would suggest we may) one of those would already have to sit on the bench before we take into consideration Carey, Fontaine, Brundle, James Wilson (yes still here) and now El Abd. I would say we have much weaker areas in our squad than centre half at the moment.
As for El Abd, I won't claim to be an expert on him, but he has always appeared a nasty player and a bit of a wind up merchant. I think I'm right in saying that he got Ricky Lambert the only red card of his career though, so he deserves some respect for that at least. I wouldn't look too far into us doing a job on Upson and Bridcutt in the game at Ashton Gate last season and forcing El Abd to bring the ball out of defence as an example of suggesting he is is poor on the ball though. I would suggest that says more about Upson and Bridcutt's quality and the way Brighton looked to play rather than any slight on El Abd.
We have been too soft for too long though and if Cotterill sees him as the type of character to make us tougher and more difficult to beat then that is fair enough I'd say. I would be concerned though that working withing the SCMP constrictions we would be much better off spending the wages we will likely to be paying El Abd strengthening elsewhere. It is of course unfair to judge that until the window shuts though.