Aspas Signing to be Completed This Week

With two matches left Celta Vigo looked near certain to start next season in Spain's Second Division, and now, a little over a week later, they managed to secure top flight survival in dramatic fashion with a 1-0 win over Espanyol on the season's final day. The goal--scored by Natxo Insa--was quickly crafted from Celta's midfield, with Iago Aspas played down the left into space, where he jinked past one defender and slid a pass centrally for Insa to side-foot in. It was a breathtaking goal from start to finish, and one that was fitting of the dramatic set of circumstances in which it occurred.

By all accounts it'll be the last goal Aspas is involved in for Celta, though, as the forward is now expected to travel to Merseyside and complete his permanent move to Liverpool. Nothing can be settled for certain until July 1 and etc. etc., but Aspas will have his medical with cult hero Zaf Iqbal and sign on for what's rumored to be wages in the £40k per week range.

His arrival puts a finger in the cracks of a leaky week in Liverpool's attack; Daniel Sturridge might miss the start of the season through injury, Luis Suarez might leave and won't be available for the first six matches of the season anyhow, and Andy Carroll is all but gone, with a move to West Ham also set to be settled this week. Aspas won't carry the reputation or fanfare of any of the three previously mentioned, but he's walking into a situation in which he'll be asked to produce immediately.

That's likely an exciting prospect for a player who reportedly thrives on passion, and with a full preseason ahead of him, he'll hopefully have enough time to develop an understanding with his new teammates before they get going in mid-August.