Former Real Madrid midfielder Esteban Granero, Queens Park Rangers' £9 million man, will only need to wait a month before his English Premier League nightmare is over.
Whilst José Mourinho's men look forward to a monumental UEFA Champions League semi-final showdown versus Borussia Dortmund, Esteban is pondering the thought of playing Championship football next season.
Granero's story at QPR is panning out the exact same way as another Los Blancos cantera product's experience in England.
Esteban Granero was so intent on proving Real Madrid management wrong that it took him six minutes to get sent off on his La Liga debut as a Getafe loanee.
The Spaniard didn't look out of place when he came head-to-head with Dutch international Orlando Engelaar, a behemoth of a man.
In the 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur, it was Granero's free kick that led to Ruben de la Red scoring Getafe's first.
In a 3-2 loss to Real Madrid, Esteban memorably lofted the ball to Roberto Soldado who netted Getafe's opening goal.
It's also worth remembering that in his days at Getafe, Granero first emerged as a wide player in a midfield four—although he wasn't exactly a mazy dribbler; his role was about drifting inside and keeping the ball.
In reality, he wasn't as complete as De La Red, who could have made the transition to a world-class player if not for a heart defect.
When Soldado arrived at Getafe, he became the club's star player, which made it two seasons running that a Castilla alumni outperformed Granero.
Upon returning to Real Madrid, Esteban was a dependable starter for Manuel Pellegrini, often appearing as an industrious wide midfielder with a knack for intercepting passes.
Queens Park Rangers signed Real Madrid's most accurate passer in Esteban Granero, who had the highest pass completion percentage (92.1) at the club.
Firstly, his 92.1 pass completion percentage has dropped to 82.8, which suggests he has struggled with the pace of the Premier League.
Secondly, Esteban averaged 89.5 minutes per game under Mark Hughes, which coincided with his strongest displays for the club.
For Harry Redknapp, Granero's MPG is 58.8, so it's no surprise that the Spaniard hasn't been receptive under the former Tottenham Hotspur manager.
It didn't help the situation when Harry said (via FourFourTwo.com), "You say we have talented players but are they that talented? I don't know really."
In 2008, West Bromwich Albion bought Valero—a Real Madrid youth graduate—from Mallorca for a club record fee of £4.75 million (per BBC Sport).
Then-WBA manager Tony Mowbray had ironically said: "If we can't find the right players, I won't waste money, I will keep going until we do."
Borja would go on to solidify himself as a world-class midfielder with Villarreal and earned high praise from Sid Lowe (via Sports Illustrated):
The sixth-best average rating in the league, match by match, according to Don Balón (the only ones handing out match day ratings without a club filter bias).
And the latter two have benefited from Borja's control, technique and touch throughout the season as he keeps Villarreal moving.
A central midfielder in the Barcelona mold although he came through the Real Madrid youth system, and a man that Pep Guardiola looked at very closely last season, Borja has provided eight assists and almost 2,000 passes.
Since moving to Fiorentina, Valero has the highest pass completion percentage (87.8) for Serie A players with nine league assists or more.
We took Graeme Dorrans to West Brom (from Livingston] for 100 grand and yet there he is playing central midfield in the Premier League because his talent got him in the team in front of a boy who cost four million.
And the boy who cost me four million, Borja Valero, is by far the best technician at the club and yet the qualities that Dorrans has brought for 100 grand required that he played.
The qualities is a reference to Valero not possessing the intangibles (at that time) to thrive in the cut-throat nature of English football.
Via: [Live -] Online - TV] Manchester United - Aston Villa - English Premier League
No comments:
Post a Comment