Iago Aspas – ‘A bit like Thierry Henry?’

If your club is in need of a decent priced striker, you’d be hard pushed to find a better breeding ground over the last few seasons than Celta Vigo.

Just about every Premier League club would have heard of Michu by now, a man who spent four years in Celta’s first team, then spending just a year at Rayo Vallecano before his move to Swansea.

The next man that could be on his way to the Premier League is Iago Aspas, a 25 year old who was Michu’s team mate for three seasons, and is Chelsea’s next target as they look to bulk out their striking options.

Rumoured to be available via his release clause for around £8m, he would be a relatively low-cost signing that would add real quality in depth to our squad, especially with Lucas Piazon on his way to Malaga until the end of the season.

After a relatively uninspiring 11 goals in 73 appearances between 2009-2011, he took the Spanish Segunda by storm in the season that Michu departed, as he fired 25 goals in 37 appearances for the Galicians, firing them to promotion into La Liga this season, where he has continued his rich vein of form.

Michu’s solitary season in La Liga earned him a move to Swansea, after 15 goals in 37 games for Rayo Vallecano, a very decent amount for a newly promoted team. Aspas is currently doing the same for Celta, in his first season, and has scored eight in 18 appearances so far, pretty much identical to Michu’s record last season. When you add that Celta have only scored 19 goals this season, that record seems even more impressive, in that he has scored nearly half of his teams goals already this campaign.

A striker who prides himself on great acceleration, as well as an amazing ability to be in the right place at the right time, he may well be just what Chelsea are looking for, especially with the likelihood of Fernando Torres exiting in the summer. Spanish journalist and respected pundit Guillem Balague describes Aspas as ‘a bit of Thierry Henry, fast, great finisher, always commited’.

If you want to see exactly what the man is about, check out the video below. WARNING: Does contain excessively tense Final Fantasy-esque music, as well as several repetitions of the words ‘Gol, Gol, Gol’



By Brad Smith




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