Revelation players of La Liga

29 March 2012 17:39
Players to watch

Iker Muniain: This young Basque player came up through the Athletic Bilbao ranks, making his debut for the main squad in October 2009. In doing so he became the youngest ever goal scorer in La Liga at 16 years and 289 days of age. In this time he has grown as a player, and this season it has shown, under Athletic Bilbao's manager Marcelo Bielsa, we have seen him flourish into the player he is today. He is one of Bilbao's most quick attacking midfielders, forming a key part of the Basque team's attack. He has impressed this season so much so that Vicente Del Bosque called him up to play the friendly against Venezuela on the 29th of February of this year where he came on as a second half substitute for Fabregas. To break through the current Europe and world champion's team, he must have something. Some people are already daring to compare him to Messi, it's early days, but Messi also started out small. Could we be witnessing another superstar in the making?


Isaac Cuenca: Another team that knows how to make the most out of its young players is Barcelona, there are many success stories from La Masia - Xavi, Carles Puyol, Victor Valdes, Gerard Pique, Cesc Fabregas, Andres Iniesta, Pep Guardiola and Johan Cryuff to name a few, another one to add to this list is Isaac Cuenca, he joined the club entity in 2003 aged 12. He left only to return 6 years later. Cuenca was transfered to CE Sabadell FC, making an immediate impact and helping Sabadell reach promotion to Spain's second division. On the 19th of October 2011 he made his first team debut for Barcelona in a Champions league match against Czech team Viktoria Plzen. His first goal for the club was in a 5-0 win over RCD Mallorca in a domestic league game. The 20 year old forward must be doing something right because in late January he signed a contract that links him to FC Barcelona until 2015 becoming, this way, officially part of Barcelona's A Team.

Radamel Falcao: The Colombian international joined Atletico de Madrid last summer, coming from Portugal's Oporto and quickly started scoring goals,with 19 goals in 25 appearances in La Liga. Yesterday he scored Atletico's 400th goal in European competitions in the 2-1 win over Hannover 96, it was the Colombian's 7th goal which makes him joint second top goal scorer in the Europa League, tied with Anderlecht's Matias Suarez. Falcao is considered one of the best forwards in the world. He has the record of most goals in a single annual international club European competition, which makes it no surprise that some of Europe's biggest clubs are trying to get a hold of him, one of these being Manchester City.

Michu: This young midfielder from Asturias is another contender for revelation player of the year, with 13 goals in La Liga he is the Spaniard with the most goals in the domestic competition. He plays for Rayo Vallecano, who went up to Spain's first division last year, and are comfortably sitting in 12th position. He has acted as centre forward many times, he has the ability to score with a header or win a scramble in the opponent's box. Various team mates as well as his coach, Jose Sandoval, are saying it shouldn't be long before he gets a call from del Bosque, his goal streak could make him stand out in the National team, however breaking through to La Roja, especially if you play in midfield, is very hard at the moment.

Source: DSG