Arsenal, Chelsea? No, Leicester made the signing of the summer
Although the Premier League season is only a handful of games in, talk of the bargain of the summer transfer window has already begun. In the ever-impatient world of top-flight English football, fans, punters and pundits feel it necessary to compare the performances of the new arrivals when the number of games played hasn’t even hit double figures, rather than at the, most logical, end-of-season mark.
Nevertheless, such premature speculation will always generate interest, and can even be educational. Angel di Maria and Radamel Falcao are househould names whose talent has been known for years, and whose transfer fees mean that they are excluded from any talk of bargains. What Manchester United paid for the pair is what they will get – supreme footballers for a hefty price.
Identifying the steals of the summer, on the other hand, is an informative process as the players in question are usually ones who are relatively unheard of, having earned a shot at top flight success by impressing scouts in the lower tiers of the football league or at a minor club in a foreign league. A prime candidate for this year’s gong is no exception.
After six years of mediocrity in Argentina, Leonardo Ulloa could have been forgiven for settling as a bench warmer at a mid-table club in South American football, with dreams of playing one day in Europe mere wishful thinking. The ten league goals he mustered as a striker in more than 60 appearances for a total of four teams was hardly going to attract the attention of the South American giants, let alone the big European sides. However, Ulloa always believed that his time would come, and when Spanish Segunda Division side Castellon came calling in 2008, the Argentinian grabbed his chance.
Going against the consensus that it is harder to succeed in Europe than in South America, Ulloa became a prolific goalscorer during his time in Spain. Two fruitful years at Castellon piqued the interest of Almeria, and after another three prosperous seasons on the edge of the Mediterranean Sea – the second of which saw him finish as the Pichichi, or top scorer, of the Segunda Division – a move to the equally exotic seaside town of Brighton beckoned.
Ulloa continued to defy convention in his first season in England, with his 23 league goals – including the first ever hat-trick scored at the AMEX Stadium – proving that the transition from Spanish to English football is not always a difficult one. The £8 million Leicester City paid for him in the summer was a club record, and his early performances show why he is a strong contender for bargain of the summer.
With his highly impressive aerial ability, link-up play and work rate, Ulloa has been a large factor in the Foxes’ excellent start to the season. His five league goals in five appearances means that he is second only to Diego Costa in the goalscoring chart, and with four of those strikes coming against Everton, Arsenal and Manchester United, he is clearly not one to shrink away on the big occasion.
Any newly promoted side knows that a striker who can score is key to survival in the Premier League, and although £8 million for a Championship player may initially have seemed a gamble, on the basis of his superb start Leicester City may genuinely have secured the summer’s best bargain. Indeed, the very fact that Ulloa’s journey to the Premier League has been a long and occasionally arduous one may be the reason why that now he is here, the Argentinian is thriving. A passage in Ulloa’s recent interview with the Leicester Mercury proved particularly insightful as he stated that he would not change anything that he has been through to get where he is, and that he feels “stronger for it”.
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Across the Atlantic, even the press in his homeland of Argentina are beginning to take notice, with profiles of the player emerging following his brace in the 5-3 defeat of Manchester United. Such belated recognition from his compatriots is the least that Ulloa deserves after a career of hard work and determination from which he is finally getting his just rewards.
It could be worse Nando, you could be one of these guys…
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