Liverpool have completed the signing of Iago Aspas from Celta Vigo.
The 25-year-old utility forward may not be a household name yet, having battled his way to Anfield from the Spanish second division with one of La Liga’s least fashionable clubs.
But La Liga aficionados have hotly tipped the hot-tempered player to wow the Premier League with his dynamic, win at all costs passion and ability, much like Luis Suarez did.
In a Celta team that narrowly avoided relegation and scored just 43 goals between them, Aspas was the undisputed star.
A local lad made good who hates Celta’s rivals Deportivo La Coruna with a passion that will resonate in the Merseyside derby, many tears were shed in Vigo when Aspas played his last La Liga game there.
He had scored 12 goals and made five more, and was the main reason Celta lived to fight another season in the Spanish top-flight.
The feeling in Spanish football circles is that Aspas is loitering around the fringes of the Spanish national side, and that a move to more high profile team could propel him into the spotlight.
It remains to be seen if Aspas has been signed to go straight into Liverpool’s first-team, but he is expected to provide goals and graft for the Reds across the front-line.
The arrival of Aspas at Anfield on a long-term deal, subsequent to an international clearance, follows those of defender Kolo Toure and young Spanish midfielder, Luis Alberto.
Goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan and defenders Thiago Llori and Kyriakos Papadopolous reportedly remain on Liverpool’s transfer agenda, as manager Brendan Rodgers shops around for the players to sustain his Anfield project.