#5 Iago Aspas – Celta Vigo
Let’s be honest with ourselves when we assess the role Aspas was supposed to play at Anfield. Despite being the leading marksman for Celta Vigo for two seasons prior to moving to the red half of the Merseyside in 2013, Aspas was never cut out for the starters role at the club. SAS had already established themselves as one of the lethal partnerships in the English game and Aspas was deemed as nothing more than an addition so as to strengthen squad depth.
The story did not deviate too much from the predicted plot as Aspas found playing time hard to come by in his first and only season at Merseyside. He featured just 15 times for the Reds and could not replicate the fine form he showed at Celta Vigo as he found the back of the net just once.
The player was soon on the move back to Spain, a country he had a proven track record in and while he did not hit it off with Sevilla, his next club, it was a definite upgrade on the footballing life he experienced at Anfield.
At the start of the 2015-16 season, the 29-year-old rejoined his former club Celta Vigo and has already re-established himself as one of the top strikers in La Liga. In the current season, he has already scored 19 goals in 36 appearances in all competitions and sits in the 4th spot behind the likes of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Cristiano Ronaldo in the La Liga scoring charts with 14 goals.
Apart from finding the back of the net himself, Aspas has also been a busy operator on the pitch for Celta as he constantly probes and pushes the opposition defenders. He has been his side’s creative lynchpin, having created 41 goal scoring opportunities and has shown the ability to break down the opposition with his passing, skill on the ball as well as vision off the ball.
