셀타의 약점 : 미드필더

One of Celta’s weak points during this season it has been the midfielders. Looking at all the starting line-ups Celta has been presenting on each game, you can understand Paco Herrera demanding a midfielder during the summer. He stated very clear he needed another Central Midifielder, and the names they were working with where players with the ablity to bring the ball to the rival’s area. One name that sounded very loud was Thiago Alcantara. The Barcelona player was born in Vigo, son of former Celta star and World Cup Winner Mazinho, and there is a strong link beween Thiago and Vigo. But further than the name, we could see what kind of player Paco Herrera was looking for.

Out of the four midfielders, only Oubina has been performing consistently, but with his injury record on mind, Celta can not rely all their hopes on him. His natural replacement is Cristian Bustos, who does not count among his virtues the ability to move the ball and create plays. That role was supposed to be for Alex Lopez and Natxo Insa, being the first one of Celta’s high bets for this season.

But neither Lopez nor Insa were capable of being consistent on their displays. Alex seems to have been paying a high rookie fee, but he has shown very good minutes of play, and therefore there is room for hope in this case. Alex has climbed slowly but firmly to the starter spot, and last season was one of the main reasons Celta was playing the best football in second division. Worst diagnosis has Natxo Insa’s future, as he was the one leaving in the case the desired midfielder arrived before the end of the transfer deadline. He works very hard, and gives a lot of sacrifice for the team, but does not seem to be able to get the rhythm.

With Alex and Insa not doing completely their job, that leaves us with Oubina multiplying himself on the pitch, doing what he did best in his best years, control the game. As long as Celta keeps Oubina in shape, there will be time for Alex to adjust to the division, but expect Celta to make a movement on the winter transfer market in the search of a midfielder that can make a higher contribution to the team.