Iago Aspas, a striker who scored only once in 15 appearances for Liverpool, is set to be honoured with a statue at Celta Vigo, the club where he is regarded as their greatest ever player.
Aspas joined Liverpool in 2013 from Celta Vigo, having come through the Spanish club's academy. He arrived with a reputation as a proven goalscorer in La Liga but struggled in the Premier League, scoring just once in 15 appearances for the Merseyside club. He was later loaned to Sevilla before returning to Celta Vigo, where he resumed his scoring form.
The forward went on to become captain and is approaching 600 appearances for the club, having scored 223 goals in the process.
Stand named in his honour
Aspas's impact at Celta Vigo has been so profound that a stand at their stadium, the Estadio de Balaidos, has been named after him. The club's Tribuna stand was recently rebranded the Iago Aspas Tribuna stand in recognition of his career.
Further plans are in place for a statue of Aspas to be erected outside the ground, which is currently undergoing a major renovation. A budget of around £169,344 has been allocated for the statue in honour of Aspas, who is nicknamed O Rei das Bateas, or The King of the Mussel Rafts.
Liverpool struggles
It has been over a decade since Aspas left Liverpool after just one season. He was never really trusted by manager Brendan Rodgers despite being backed by the club's data team and was unable to make a lasting impact.
Aspas is mostly remembered by Liverpool supporters for his dreadful corner which led to a Chelsea counter and eventually their second goal when they secured victory at Anfield in 2014.
He previously insisted that he had no regrets over his ill-fated move to Liverpool, telling BBC Sport: "I didn't play as much as I wanted to, but it is a big club with big players. We were really fighting to win the league right up to the end."
"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."
