REMEMBER ASPRILLA?
nOBBY SOLanO is backing Miguel almiron to help continue newcastle’s special relationship with South america with his move to St James’ Park.
Toon last month smashed a transfer record that had stood for more than 13 years to bring the Paraguayan to the North East for £21million from MLS side Atlanta.
And the 25- year- old enters a distinguished list of South American players who have worn the famous black-and-white stripes.
That includes English football’s first Brazilian import Mirandinha, Colombian great Faustino Asprilla (right) and Peruvian Solano.
Almiron isn’t the first Paraguayan to play for Newcastle, with Diego Gavilan having made seven appearances for the club between 2000 and 2003.
But he’s the first to carry such a huge weight of expectation as Newcastle’s long-suffering fans look to Almiron to sprinkle much-needed stardust over St James’ Park.
Solano, now Peru’s assistant coach, believes that patience may be needed for that to happen. But he is confident that Almiron will deliver.
“The Newcastle fans will love him,” said Solano, who is still a regular visitor to Tyneside.
“He’s very skilful, but it will take him some time to settle in.
“It’s up to Rafa Benitez where he will use Almiron, but, for me, I think he’s a similar kind of player to Angel Di Maria.
“For Paraguay, he plays as a winger. If Newcastle play a 4-3-3, then he will be a Willian or an Eden Hazard out wide.
“He’s very lively, he’ll take people on and the Newcastle fans always love the South American players who can do that.
“But it takes time to adapt to the Premier League – you need to get the pace of it and the level – and that can be difficult.
“But I hope that he can make a dif ference.” Almiron’s purchase has delivered owner Mike Ashley some time and also handed boss Benitez the kind of attacking option that has been lacking.
As Newcastle prepare to take on Wo l v e s tomorrow, Solano added: “The owner has taken a bit of the pressure off himself with this move, and I know
Rafa has tried to push
Newcastle forward.
“He doesn’t want to be fighting relegation all the time because he’s a winner and wants to be fighting for the title.
“It is asking a lot for one player to come in and change all that, but I hope this will be a big step forward.”