In his first foray into the transfer market since being installed as Sunderland manager, Gus Poyet snapped up former Bolton defender Marcos Alonso from Fiorentina. The 23-year-old arrives on loan until the end of the season as the Black Cats boss looks to bolster his backline in the Wearsiders’ bid to beat the drop:
With just a single league start and a couple of sub appearances to his name for the Italian outfit this term, Alonso is clearly relishing the chance to kick-start his career again. Speaking to the Sunderland official website, he admitted Poyet’s presence played a crucial role in his decision to return to the English top-flight:
“The head coach is giving me a very good opportunity and I’m just very happy to be here and now I’ll do my best to help the team. He’s very good for me. He speaks Spanish so I understand him very well and also he did great as a manager at Brighton – he played very good football. He has so many good experiences from his time at Chelsea and Tottenham – it’s great to work with someone with that much experience and I will try to learn as much as I can…It’s not the first time I’m going to play in the Premier League so I don’t think I need to get used to anything – I just will play. The stadium is great and also the fans – when I played here [with Bolton] the atmosphere was incredible.”
The History
A product of the Real Madrid youth academy, Alonso played 39 times for the club’s B side and found the net on three occasions. The raiding left-back made just a single first-team appearance back in 2010, as a 90th minute substitute, before making his way to Bolton Wanderers for a fee in the region of £2.2m.
Tentatively used by the Trotters, Alonso made just nine appearances over two seasons in the Premier League, scoring once, before the club dropped into the Championship for the 2012/13 season. Finally handed a chance to nail down a regular role, he demonstrated an impressive attacking streak from the back and chipped in with four goals and a pair of assists over 26 league appearances. His displays saw the local press vote Alonso Bolton’s Player of the Year last term and persuaded Fiorentina to snap him up on a three-year deal.
As mentioned above, the 23-year-old has been afforded little opportunity to make an impact in Italy. With Manuel Pasqual firmly ahead of him in the Fiorentina left-back pecking order, he’s appeared just three times for the fourth-placed side in Serie A. On the international stage, Alonso has represented his native Spain at Under 19 level on four occasions.
The Prospects
Certainly, the Spaniard’s prospects of holding down a regular role look good. Poyet seems unconvinced by Andrea Dossena and has handed the former Liverpool defender just one start in the last six league games – Phil Bardsley has mainly been utilised on the left instead, with Andrej Celustka benefitting from game time on the opposite side of the back-four.
Speaking to the press upon completion of the deal, the Sunderland manager is clearly a fan of his new recruit:
“It’s a position we’ve been looking to strengthen and he’s a player we like a lot. I watch a lot of Spanish football and I saw him play for Real Madrid. When he joined Bolton, it surprised me. At Brighton, I was looking for a player in that position, but when he went to Fiorentina that interest stopped. However, I have always kept an eye on him and he became available again. It wasn’t easy convincing Fiorentina to let him come but he wanted to.”
Finally given clearance to make his debut last night, Alonso was immediately handed the left-back berth in the Capital One Cup semi-final first leg win over United. His presence in defence allowed the versatile Bardsley to switch to his natural right-back position and, with John O’Shea fit to partner Wes Brown in the middle after recovering from a shoulder problem, Poyet’s selection may well prove to be his first-choice defence for the remainder of the season.
Having produced five clean sheets in the last 10 Gameweeks, the Wearsiders’ backline is certainly worthy of our consideration. The upcoming fixtures further their appeal – their remaining nine matches at the Stadium of Light (SOT, STO, HUL, WBA, CPL, WHM, EVE, CAR, SWA) suggest clean sheet returns could well be on the cards, with the likes of Cardiff offering a strong home/away partnership for those looking to rotate.
So far, Alonso has only been added to the Sky Sports game, at a price of 4.3, though he’s expected to come in at 4.5 in Fantasy Premier League (FPL). For those overlooking Vito Mannone between the sticks, Brown and Bardsley set you back 4.3 and 4.5 respectively in FPL. Given that Bardsley has already scored twice in 13 league appearances under Poyet, he looks the likeliest target for points at both ends of the pitch – his fellow full-back is likely to struggle to earn our attentions, then, though that may just change if he can replicate the attacking displays of last term at the Reebok.
