The signings of Iago Aspas and Luis Alberto may have left a few Liverpool fans in the dark over the potential of the players as neither of them play for La Liga’s big two in Real Madrid and Barcelona and don’t get much airtime on British television, but those who have been fortunate enough to see both of the Spanish attackers will know that the scouting team have done a great job in scouting and signing them.
Iago Aspas
I was fortunate enough to catch Celta Vigo’s last game of the season, in which a single Naxto Insa goal against Espanyol was enough to keep them in the Primera Division – a goal brilliantly assisted by Iago Aspas himself, showing excellent poise and touch to take it round the a defender and using his great tactical awareness to set up Insa with a chance he couldn’t miss.
As a player, both mentally and in terms of footballing ability, Aspas is very similar to the number 7 he will hopefully be playing alongside next season. The tenacious manner in which he plays his football shows he is a fighter in the mould of Luis Suarez. His record of 23 goals in 35 in the Spanish Segunda Division in the 2011-12 season was instrumental in the promotion of the club he joined at the age of 8, and his record in La Liga of 12 goals, creating more chances (65) than both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in a team that only fought off relegation on the last day of the season is certainly impressive.
While his playing style is like that of Luis Suarez, his temperament is comparable. Aspas was sent off for head butting Carlos Marchena of Deportivo in the Galician derby in March, receiving a fine and a 4 week ban.
Competent in the air, very useful in the counter attack and perfectly comfortable at keeping possession and possessing a lethal shot from almost anywhere, at £7m the uncapped Spaniard could be a brilliant addition to the team.
Luis Alberto
More unproven than our aforementioned Spaniard, Luis Alberto spent last season in the Segunda Liga forming a formidable partnership with young Spanish hotshot Gerard Deulofeu. A graduate of the Sevilla academy, the same academy that produced the likes of Jesus Navas and José Antonio Reyes, he spent the recent season on loan at Barcelona B and many fans of the Blaugrana were disappointed that the option was not taken to purchase the youngster permanently from Sevilla. However with Alberto’s desire for first team football and a front line of Neymar, Messi, and Pedro for Barcelona, he would have found chances in the first team to come at a premium.
He can slot in anywhere across the front line, favouring the false 9 position that we saw Suarez in for much of the first half of the season, and he slots perfectly into the kind of 4-3-3 that has become so common under Brendan Rodgers and the prospect of him linking up with January signing Phillipe Coutinho should certainly whet the appetites of Liverpool fans. He possesses fantastic tactical awareness and is a great technician. His 18 assists for Barcelona B last season demonstrate his creative abilities, and the other side of his game is shown with 11 goals at the Mini Estadi, as his side finished 9th in the Segunda Liga.
The three signings made by Rodgers this summer have so far been astute pieces of business; Kolo Toure on a free could prove to be a masterstroke as the experience of Carragher is lost to Sky Sports punditry and Aspas and Alberto really could add the sort of attacking depth that Liverpool missed out on last season.
With the potential signings of Sunderland goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, Shakhtar Donetsk’s attacking midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan and another centre back or two – next season really could be Liverpool’s chance to push for a return to the Europe’s elite competition.
Fluidity looks to be the name of the game next season, with a combination of Coutinho, Aspas, Alberto, Sturridge, Suarez and of course youngsters Suso and Sterling providing squad strength that we’ve not seen at Anfield in many a season, with all of the mentioned players able to interchange throughout the front three which could lead to yet more exciting attacking play, building on the success of the second half of last season.
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