Espanyol, drilling for gold?
By: Mando | April 9th, 2008 |
Are Espanyol drilling for gold right now? Not likely as he’s due at the Montjuic for the summer, but striker Dario Cvitanich, the Argentinian-Croatian who plays for Banfield, “El Taladro (or The Drill), is on the Espanyol radar. Some reports have Paco Herrera already having signed him for some help up front, I guess it means he’s ignoring the black hole we have in the back, and as usual the player and both clubs have denied any deal. Rather than do the legwork myself on this story I went with someone who has actually seen him play. I asked Tim Vickery of the BBC World Service about Cvitanich.
” (He’s) just coming up 24, with around 25 goals in 80ish league games. Interesting striker and worth a look. No Olympic sprinter, but quick enough, can combine outside the area and finish first time in it. Have to say, though, that the standard there in Argentina is not great. He’ll find it a step up. Argentine football has plenty of strikers who couldn’t quite make the grade in Europe.”
Big thanks to Tim for coming through. Let’s see who I can get to chime in next week. What do I think on Cvitanich though? I think if he were 17 and not 24, then maybe he’d be able to grow into the standard of play in Spain, but this is a guy that may be another in a long line of forwards that stayed a little long in South America before leaving for Europe. Depor are also in for him as are of course Boca Juniors who are set to lose Rodrigo Palacio to Chelsea if you believe the rumors. He says he’d rather go to Europe, Banfield would rather do that deal than let him sign for los xeneises. In the end, I think Espanyol would be better served to look to Eastern Europe or Africa for bargain-basement help in the summer.
Category: 
Subscribe
|
Print
|
Share
      |
Comments
-
Cvitanich may have grown out of the Argentine Primera by now. It’s unfortunate that he’s not younger but he’s been fantastic this year for Banfield. Take a look at a similar forward who left Argentina for Europe recently, Federico Higuain. He’s a similar type of player, same size but quick with the ball on his foot and skilled on the wings as well. He left Banfield as well and is the brother of Gonzalo Higuain, so he comes from a good pedigree but had failed to break into the Besiktas squad. The Turks then loaned him to CF America in Mexico where again he’s had trouble breaking into the first squad. I could expect the same thing from Cvitanich in Europe but who knows? He could end up adapting to the game and be pretty good, look at Saviola, small but very fast and a great goalscorer. Also, Maxi Rodriguez was a good buy and adapted well also.
Posted from
United States
-
I think the question here is pace, and age Mauro. Saviola left at 19 or 20 for Spain from River and so was Maxi when he left for Espanyol. Believe me, I think Espanyol need someone else up front, other than Ewerthon who hasn’t really adapted well since coming back to Spain, and I’d like to think that Cvitanich is ready for Europe, but time is not on his side. Look at Chelito Delgado and his struggles to get into a Lyon side after playing well at Cruz Azul. It can happen, but it’s the rare player that adapts well at that age to the level of the Primera Liga.
Posted from
United States -
Agreed, time is not on his side, that’s why I compared him to a striker like Higuain, since they both were effective in Argentina but would have trouble in Europe. Both may have passed their sell by date. Happy hunting.
Posted from
United States
Comments are closed
Home 
