There’s a good chance that despite getting a striker, Chelsea aren’t done with their signings for January, as Iago Aspas of Celta Vigo is the next player targeted by the European champions thanks to a very lucrative release clause in his contract.
The 25 year old forward, who plays usually as a striker but can also switch to one of the wings, is playing in the La Liga for the first time in his career after spending it with Celta in the second division since joining the senior team. It seems that his 23 goals from last season in the Segunda division weren’t just a case of weak competition, scoring 8 goals through the first 18 league match in 2012-2013.
Iago has a release clause of €10 million, and there’s a very good chance that Chelsea (although not being the only team interested in the player) will activate his release clause to add another player to their striking force which now consists of Demba Ba and Fernando Torres. In the Benitez one striker system, it’s hard to see who three players remain happy with the playing time they get, but maybe there are plans regarding Torres and his future at Chelsea that we don’t know of.
Still, Iago doesn’t look like the kind of player Chelsea or any of the big Premier League clubs usually go far. Unimpressive in career record but also not a wonder-kid type, with over 200 matches for Celta under his belt. Maybe the shocking success of Michu with Swansea, another team interested in Iago, has convinced teams like Chelsea to look for the lesser known names, who will also come cheaply (relatively), some of them having easy-to-handle release clauses.
This might be a rumor stirred by Iago’s agent to get the player some attention from other clubs and hopefully a better contract from Celta, because he doesn’t seem like the kind of player who’ll get too many minutes if he comes to Stamford Bridge. Maybe Chelsea want to get rid of Marko Marin and bring in someone who’ll fit better with the Spanish colony in West London, and can play in more than one position.