Iago Aspas is a 25 year old 5 foot 9 inch Spanish forward who has transferred from Celta Vigo to Liverpool for 8.2m pounds in June 2013.
Background
Iago Aspas 7 year career has been solely at Celta Vigo where he has a reasonable goal record. However he has only played 1 season in the Primera division of La Liga. Celta escaped relegation on the final day of last season and presumably he felt it was time to move on and move forward. He hasn’t represented Spain at any international level.
Aspas is a similar type of forward to Suarez although no where near at his level. He is not just a penalty box poacher who is a tap in specialist in the mold of say Ruud Van Nistleroy. He is can play as the most advanced forward but is also comfortable dropping off in to the hole and picking up possession. He can play anywhere along the forward line and can drift wide in to space behind advancing fullbacks. He contributes alot to the team and created a large amount of chances for team mates. Like Suarez he is also a bit f a hot head and has a fairly chequered yellow and red card history. Lets not get carried away, he isn’t anywhere near at Suarez’s level but he does have similar attributes. At 25 he has only had 1 season in the Primera Division with Celta where he scored 12 goals in 34 games plus 5 assists. Both Kone and Michu scored more than that before coming to our fantasy premier league attention.
Stats
| Iago Aspas stats | ||||
| Season | Team | Matches | Goals | Assists |
| 2012/13 | Celta (Primera) | 34 | 12 | 5 |
| 2011/12 | Celta (Segunda) | 37 | 23 | |
| 2010/11 | Celta (Segunda) | 28 | 4 | |
| 2009/10 | Celta (Segunda) | 36 | 5 | |
| 2008/09 | Celta (Segunda) | 3 | 2 | |
| Total | 138 | 46 | 5 | |
Aspas has no European experience and has not represented Spain at any age group International level.
Fantasy premier league perspective
Iago Aspas’ fantasy premier league attractiveness is too difficult to ascertain at the moment. The position with Liverpool is just too changeable. The main question marks are over the future of Suarez and the arrival or not of attacking midfielder Mkhitaryan. If Suarez goes and Mkhitaryan does join then its a bit more straightforward in my mind. Sturridge will probably play centrally as the most forward striker with Coutinho Aspas and Mkhitartyan behind in a 4-2-3-1. If Rodgers goes 4-3-3 then Sturridge will again play centrally and in the front 3 will probably be Coutinho Sturridge and then either Aspas or Borini. If Suarez stays then you’ve got to wonder whether he will start at all.
That’s all very interesting but it ignores the basic question of where should your fantasy premier league exposure of Liverpool come from. If Suarez stays then he’s very difficult to ignore. This is a guy who scored 23 goals and 11 assists in 33 gameslast season and was the run away winner in underlying shooting and creating chances stats by my methodology. He is pretty much a must have. If he goes the form of Sturridge and Coutinho was very compelling towards the end of the season and they will be my first port of call for Liverpool fantasy premier league exposure. It will take some pre season form and the right pricing for me to look the way of Aspas as a forward especially over Sturridge. Even Mkhitaryan maybe a better option as a midfielder as again Aspas will probably be a forward and I’ll be thinking very carefully before I use my 3 precious forward slots.
At the moment then its a wait and see for me depending on what happens with Suarez and Mkhitaryan and his price differential with Sturridge and Coutinho but it looks unlikely that he will be in my opening day fantasy premier league line up.
