By Ewah Chika.
Barcelona will feel hard done after the club missed out on Atletico Madrid and Argentine forward Luciano Vietto who opted against signing for the Catalan club on loan instead opting to join Sevilla this summer.
Though the Argentine was far from his impressive form of 2014-2015 season for Atletico Madrid last
season, he is still highly regarded by many coaches who still rate him so highly. Last season was a disaster for Vietto after scoring only one goal and creating three assists in 19 (12 starts) La Liga games. Diego Simeone has identified his attack as his achilles hill after his team struggled to score goals last season as the likes of Vietto, Fernando Torres and Jackson Martinez all remained inconsistent all through last season. Judging from the Argentine's stats, to some it seems the €20 million Atletico spent on his signing was a wasteful but to others it is unfair to judge a player on a single season coupled with the young age of the forward (22). From his sale to Atletico, Villarreal made a profit of €14.5 million judging from his €5.5 signing from Racing Club in 2014.
In his debut season in Villarreal which is also his last, the Forward scored a decent 12 goals in 32 La Liga games forming a deadly partnership with the likes of Giovanni Dos Santos and Ikechukwu Uche. This did not end there as the Argentine ended up bagging the Player Of the Month Award in December 2014 after scoring three goals in December as his team finished 5th at the end of that season before his sale to Atletico.
Unlike other players who will jump at the offer to sign for Barcelona and play with the likes of Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, Vietto rejected the offer of playing for Barcelona instead opting to join compatriot Jorge Sampaoli in Sevilla after the €29 million sale of 29-year-old French forward Kelvin Gameiro to Atletico on Saturday. The Argentine is expected to become a regular starter at the Andalusian club where they fans are anxious to see him return to his old impressive form. The Argentine playing style will perfectly suit Sampaoli given his versatility to play in all attacking positions , dribbling and impeccable key passing which are his greatest strengths. Vietto will also play with less pressure and with the full confidence of the coach which was not the case in Atletico. In Sevilla, the forward is likely to play with less quality players compared to the likes of Antoine Griezman, Koke and Gabi but this will be compensated with the strategy of making him the star man and focal point of attack which was the same case with Villarreal and contrary during his time at Atletico.
At 22, Vietto is still a rising star with many more years ahead of him to progress and develop. The player becomes Sevilla's seventh signing of this summer with the likes of Franco Vazquez, Joaquin Correa, Ganso, Hiroshi Kiyotake, Pablo Sarabia and Matias Kranevitter all having joined the Andalusian club.
Vietto might have flopped at Atletico but the youngster should be applauded for taking responsibility of making a wrong move to Atletico and trying to rectify it by moving to Sevilla rather than joining Barce where his condition would have been worse off than it was last season. The ball is now in the court of the forward as the world waits anxiously to see his rediscover his goalscoring form in Sevilla.
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