While the media spotlight continues to shine firmly on a certain Welshman, Andre Villas-Boas has added to the Tottenham ranks with the acquisition of Roberto Soldado from Spanish outfit Valencia. Having passed a medical, the 28-year-old arrives at White Hart Lane for a club-record fee of around £26m and is the third player to sign up this summer, following Paulinho and Nacer Chadli to the club.
The History
A product of the Real Madrid youth academy, Soldado – in a similar situation to Chelsea’s Juan Mata – was rarely given a chance to establish himself as a regular at the Bernabeu. His career began back in 2002, where over the period of four seasons playing for Madrid’s “B” team Castilla, he notched 64 goals in 120 league matches. Farmed out on loan to Osasuna in 2006, Soldado produced 11 goals in 30 appearances but returned to his parent club once again the following year and, by the time he left for Getafe in 2008/09 for a mere €4m, had been handed a mere 16 first-team appearances by Madrid, finding the net on a couple of occasions.
With regular game time under his belt, Soldado quickly set about becoming one of the most lethal marksmen in the Spanish top-flight. Over two seasons at Getafe, he notched 29 goals and four assists in 60 matches, despite 11 of those appearances arriving from the bench – his exploits caught the eye of Valencia, with the club snapping him up as a €10m replacement for David Villa.
Soldado’s three-year tenure at the Mestalla was a hugely successful period as he demonstrated a consistency of scoring which is sure to make him a Fantasy favourite. His first term, back in 2010/11, harvested 18 goals and three assists from 34 matches, while the following year saw him produce 17 goals and three assists in 32 appearances. His final season in La Liga turned out to be Soldado’s most prolific, though, with 24 strikes and four assists from 35 league games highlighting his attacking potential. From a disciplinary point of view, he did have a penchant for picking up yellow cards, however, earning 49 cautions over the previous five domestic campaigns.
On the international stage, Soldado has represented his country at every youth level from Under 15 to Under 21, scoring 25 times in 41 appearances, and has also turned out for the senior side on 11 occasions, with six goals to his name.
The Prospects
A classic style centre-forward, the five foot eleven Soldado is adept with both feet, strong in the air and possesses a mobility and intelligence of movement which is always able to buy him a yard or two breathing space against the most diligent of man-markers. Being a penalty-box-predator-type, he rarely drops deep, though, and has a tendency to play on the shoulder of the final defender, utilising a decent turn of pace to gain an advantage.
If he brings his La Liga form to the table, the Spaniard’s arrival at White Hart Lane looks set to give Fantasy managers a bona fide frontline option in the season ahead, with the chances of spot-kick duties also looking likely. Villas-Boas’ preferred lone striker system – whether it be a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 this time out – will surely see Soldado as the main man up front for the north London outfit, with Emmanuel Adebayor and Jermain Defoe likely to rely on game time from the bench as back-up.
While Gareth Bale’s heroics saved Tottenham time and again in 2012/13, Adebayor (25 games, five goals) and Defoe (34 games, 11 goals) were far from prolific, with the club a little too reliant on the Welshman’s talents from one Gameweek to the next. Soldado’s arrival is expected to remedy that and bearing in mind Adebayor and Defoe are priced at 8.0 and 8.5 in Fantasy Premier League (FPL) respectively, a ceiling of 9.5 looks likely for the Premier League debutant.
Granted, if Bale stays, it’ll take a brave Fantasy manager to overlook the Welshman but an eye-catching run of opening fixtures will also bring Soldado immediately onto the Fantasy radar. Home games against Swansea, Norwich, West Ham and Hull, allied with trips to Palace, Cardiff and Villa in the opening nine Gameweeks, affords the Spaniard the perfect platform to get quickly off the mark, with his goal-getting ability likely to persuade many a Fantasy manager to scramble aboard the early-season bandwagon. Those who don’t subscribe to the notion of “coverage” could well be looking to double up should Bale remain, while those unwilling to invest in more than one premium player per side will surely turn to the new boy as their Tottenham attacking coverage if the Welshman does decide to depart these shores.
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