Done Deal: Liverpool reach 'agreement' over €9m attacker once described as 'part-Messi'

It's official: Celta Vigo have agreed a deal to re-sign Liverpool flop Iago Aspas, who cost the Reds €9m back in 2013.

Over the weekend, Sevilla posted the following statement on the their website:

"FC Sevilla and Celta de Vigo have reached an agreement for the transfer of Iago Aspas after Sevilla FC had acquired his rights on permanent basis from Liverpool"

This is absolutely no surprise as Aspas confirmed his exit in May, when he told ESPN:

"I am a Sevilla player for next season. It is an open secret that everyone knew. The transfer [fee] is to be paid this summer. I came here on a loan deal with an obligatory option to buy. I am going to stay here for some years at Sevilla".

Basically, it's Fabio Borini all over again.

* Like Borini, Aspas is ostensibly a striker, who is most effective playing high up the field in a more central role.

* Prior to joining Liverpool, Borini proved that if you play him as a striker, he will score goals (6 goals in 9 games for Swansea during his loan spell)

* In his first season at LFC, Rodgers constantly played Borini out of position, which predictably led to ineffective performances.

* When Borini didn't perform whilst playing out of position, he became a bit-part player for the club.

* Borini then left Liverpool on loan, and like Aspas, did comparatively well for his adopted club.

Aspas' has followed the exact same trajectory at Liverpool, but unlike Borini, the Spaniard was desperate to leave, and who can blame him?

As I argued at the time of Aspas's signing - and continue to argue to this day - Brendan Rodgers erred in signing an older, experienced striker as back-up for Suarez and Sturridge.

Aspas (by his own admission) expected to play regularly, and when that didn't happen, he (understandably) became frustrated and demotivated.

Liverpool should've signed a young, hungry, inexperienced striker in the 18-21 range; someone happy to play a reduced role, whilst learning from Suarez and Sturridge throughout the season.



If Rodgers had gone that route, Liverpool would (probably) have a developing asset on its hands right now, rather than yet another transfer failure.

Perhaps Rodgers was hoodwinked by the comments of Paco Herrara - Apas's former manager at Celta Vigo (and Rafa Benitez's former assistant at Anfield) - who made the following claim weeks before Liverpool completed the deal:

“Iago is our benchmark. He is part Messi, part monster. He is our star player in his own right, but there are sometimes small things that can affect Iago as a person and a player. But for us, he is like Messi for Barcelona.”

If Aspas is 'like Messi', then Herrera must be referring to a non-footballing part of Messi's body, and as far as I can see, the only similarity is their hair. Oh, and their arms appear to be of similar length.

To be fair, Aspas did okay in Spain (12 goals/assists in 25 games), but even after his decent form for Sevilla, the Reds will still end up making a financial loss on a player who is in the prime of his career.

All's well that ends well, but I still can't comprehend why Rodgers signed Aspas and Luis Alberto. For some inexplicable reason, he decided that £16m on those two was a better deal than £11m on Christian Eriksen.

That just about sums up Liverpool's disastrous transfer performance during Rodgers' reign.

Author: Jaimie K