Liverpool have been blessed with some incredible footballers in recent years. As well as the likes of Steven Gerrard and Trent Alexander-Arnold coming through the club’s academy, they’ve also had tremendous success on the transfer market and their recruitment has been stellar. They’ve brought in stars such as Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Luis Suarez in the last 15 years and have very rarely missed on transfers.
With that said, not everyone has been a hit and one player that Brendan Rodgers signed back in 2013 struggled to find his feet at Anfield. He wound up playing only a handful of games, despite the side spending around £9m on his services. He’s since gone on to be a major success elsewhere and that man is Iago Aspas.
Aspas’ Time at Liverpool
He joined in 2013
Iago Aspas LiverpoolIago Aspas Liverpool
After coming through the ranks at Celta Vigo, Aspas made a name for himself in the Spanish club’s senior team. He got off to a slow start, but soon found form in La Liga and was scoring for fun when Liverpool came calling in 2013.
The Reds had finished seventh in the Premier League the season before and were ready to take things to another level. They brought the Spaniard in for around £9m and things got off to a promising start. In his first appearance for the side, he scored and bagged an assist in a pre-season friendly against Preston North End and Rodgers was very impressed. Speaking about Aspas, via quotes shared by the Daily Mail, the manager said:
“Iago works hard; he’s got a trick in and around the box and he excites supporters. He’s a good guy and he works very hard for the supporters.
“He drifts well in between the lines and always wants to receive the ball, but what I like is that he wants to score goals. He’s looking to create and combine or go solo by himself and get a shot in. His goal was a terrific strike.”
The bright start didn’t last, though, and Aspas struggled to make much of an impact in the Liverpool team once the 2013/14 season got underway. He was behind Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge in the pecking order and failed to bag his first official goal for the Reds until January 2014. His minuted began to dwindle as a result of his poor form. Rodgers spoke to the Liverpool Echo following his early issues and remained optimistic about the star, saying: “Iago has an instinct for a goal but in the games so far he probably hasn’t had the opportunities either made for him or that he’s been able to create for himself.
“He has come from Spain into the Premier League – there is a big difference. Once he becomes accustomed to it, he’ll be able to handle it. We can’t expect too much too soon. He works tirelessly every day and I expect him in time to improve and get better and better.”
Unfortunately for Rodgers and Aspas, the forward didn’t improve very much and he was loaned out to Sevilla after just one season at Anfield. The La Liga club activated a clause in his contract to sign him from the Reds for just £4.4m in 2015, only to then sell him back to Celta Vigo that very same day. He left Liverpool having scored just one goal in 15 appearances and is considered one of the worst players in the club’s history. His return to Spain sparked a resurgence, though.
Aspas Has Been Tremendous For Celta Vigo
He’s scored over 150 goals for the club in his second stint
While his time in England didn’t work out, Aspas returned to Spain and was an instant success in his first campaign back with Celta Vigo. He scored 18 goals in all competitions during the 2015/16 season and hasn’t slowed down in the decade since. He’s scored 212 goals for the club across two spells with them and those issues he had in England feel like a distant memory at this point.