Aston Villa should beat Leeds to sign Ruben Alcaraz from Real Valladolid
According to Wales Online, Leeds United are keen on bolstering their squad and the Peacocks have set their sights on Real Valladolid due of Ruben Alcaraz and Toni Villa.
Leeds’ hopes of securing automatic promotion suffered a blow as the Peacocks lost 2-1 to Stoke City away from home in the Championship this week. Norwich have closed the gap on the league leaders and the Canaries are now just a point adrift of the top spot.
Ruben Alcaraz is certainly not one of the household names in the La Liga. Plying his trade with newly promoted club Real Valladolid, the 27-year-old central midfielder has impressed with his consistently impressive displays in his first season in the top flight.
Alcaraz played for fourth division clubs Horta, Gramenet, Prat and Hospitalet before joining Segunda Division club Girona in 2015. The 27-year-old helped Girona to a promotion-winning 2016-17 season in the second tier but he was loaned back to Segunda Division club Almeria for the 2017-18 season where he proved his worth, scoring nine goals to save the club from relegation.
The 27-year-old is central midfielder by trade who is comfortable playing in holding and box-to-box roles in the middle of the park. Alcaraz has averaged 54.2 passes per game with an accuracy percentage of 85.3, including 5.6 successful long balls per game in the La Liga this term, figures which speak volumes of his wonderful range of passing and ability to switch the play with precise long passes.
To add to that, he has averaged 3.1 tackles and 1.2 interceptions per game, which shows that he is equally adept at cutting out the attacks and breaking up the play from a deep position in the midfield. Furthermore, the Spaniard is known for his long-range shooting and has a decent aerial game too.
To put things into perspective, Aston Villa should look to hijack the Spaniard from the jaws of Leeds United, with the Lions struggling to keep pace with the promotion hopefuls. Villa slipped to 13th in the standings as a result of the 2-2 against Hull City this week and Dean Smith’s side are currently seven points adrift of Derby County for the final promotion playoff spot.
While the defence has been a major cause of concern at Villa Park this season, the Lions have also lacked an effective shield for their porous rearguard. John McGinn has been the pick of the midfielders with his tenacity, creativity and work rate but Conor Hourihane has been somewhat inconsistent even though he has chipped in with some valuable performances.
In fact, Hourihane hasn’t done much defensively, averaging 1.4 tackles and 0.4 interceptions. Birkir Bjarnason, on the other hand, is yet to find his feet after making a return from injury.
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Villa need more stability in their midfield to control the tempo of the game and someone like Ruben Alcaraz would be a good choice. Hence, the Lions can do themselves a world of good by keeping tabs on the in-form Spanish midfield maestro.
It won’t cost them a fortune to bring him to Villa Park and there is every chance that he can reinvigorate the club’s surge for promotion.
