10 Key Players To Watch In The Premier League This Season
10. Mauro Zarate
Avid Premier League supporters with a razor-sharp memory may remember the four month spell that Argentinian striker Mauro Zarate spent on loan at Birmingham City in the Premier League in early 2008. The team were a shambles and were ultimately relegated, but that didnt stop the 21 year old Zarate proving his credentials, lighting up St. Andrews with some intricate skills and deft touches. He may have only scored four goals, but the sheer quality of those efforts were top drawer, including a sublime free kick against Everton in April. Since then, he has gone on to don the crest of Lazio, Inter Milan and hometown club Velez Sarsfield before finding himself back on English soil this summer with West Ham. The elusive Argentinian is now 27, and plundered 20 goals in Argentina last season, and will be hoping to replicate that rich vein of goalscoring form under Sam Allardyce.
''This signing is based on his record from being in Argentina, where he has scored the goals that he has scored because we are looking for some. Plus the fact that, at a much younger age, he had the experience of the Premier League with Birmingham for a while. We hope that a combination of the two the fact that he knows the Premier League and now he has become more experienced and more mature, he is going to have evolved in terms of giving us a few more goals in the Premier League when he gets the opportunity. Sam Allardyce, 2014.
If pre-season is to serve as a precedent, then Zarate will be West Hams main goalscoring threat this season, following his goal-scoring debut. With fellow signing Enner Valencia arriving at the club from Panucha, the duo have a task on their hands to provide the club with enough goals to forget about the woes and continued injuries of a former £35 million target man. With West Ham co-owner David Sullivan having publicly expressed a sense of regret regarding shelling out so much money for the constantly crocked Andy Carroll, the Geordie number nine doesnt look to have shaken off his injury woes, having been ruled out for four months. Zarate, on the other hand, is already off the mark with an excellent finish against Auckland side Wellington, and looks hungry for more goals.
Recent Journalism & New Media graduate. Insatiable thirst for all things football, and hopes to break into the field of sports journalism in the near future.
Have made a significantly insignificant playing career out of receiving several slaps around the head for not passing the ball.
