Ex-player reveals problem he had at Liverpool amid ‘true luxury’
Former Liverpool forward Iago Aspas has revealed why he struggled at the Premier League club.
Following a stellar spell in Spain with Celta Vigo, Liverpool signed him in 2013 for a fee in the region of £9m.
Aspas barely featured for the Reds in 2013/14. The likes of Philippe Coutinho, Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge were ahead of him in the pecking order.
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The winger only started five times in the league as Liverpool put in an unsuccessful challenge for the Premier League title.
The 34-year-old spent the 2014/15 campaign on loan at Sevilla. He then returned to Celta Vigo on a permanent basis.
The Spaniard has further established himself as a club legend over the past seven seasons. He has grabbed 179 goals and 60 assists from his 409 outings for the Spanish outfit.
Aspas thinks the problem he had at Liverpool is that he was not enjoying his football:
“I didn’t play as much as I wanted to. But it is a big club, big players – we were really fighting to win the league right up to the end,” Aspas told BBC Sport.
“I had lot of expectations in pre-season, I did quite well and then, after Luis Suarez came back, I didn’t have a lot of minutes to play. Maybe I could have enjoyed more minutes there and consolidated my football in the UK and enjoyed the Champions League, but if you are not happy, not enjoying being out on the pitch, I can never get the best talent out of me like that.
“So I thought it best to come back to La Liga, come back home, and to play football with my people. That has proved to be good for my football, my good characteristics. I played at a World Cup, scored a goal at the World Cup and that was one of my biggest dreams.”
Aspas also stated that it was a “true luxury” to play alongside Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard:
“It was a true luxury to have shared the dressing room with him. I can always tell my kids I have played with Steven Gerrard and Liverpool.
“He was always one second ahead of the others. Now it is easy for him to transmit all these things to his players when he coaches.”
