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The rapid making and even faster unravelling of Michu’s career

By on November 10, 2015

After two fabled years at Swansea City and one all too forgettable season wrecked by injury, Michu has departed with the Swans today. He heads to Langreo, a fourth division Spanish side managed by his brother, to salvage what is left of his career, ruined by an ankle injury. He takes with him the legacy of a one-season wonder, scoring eighteen goals for Swansea in 2012/2013 from the midfield. His Swansea career unravelled just as quickly as it had burst onto the scene; but to define Michu’s career by this one season would be a pity.

The Spaniard grew up in a middle-class family in Oviedo and Michu joined the local side, Real Oviedo, around the age of five. He stayed there until the age of twenty-one, having made his senior debut in 2003 and marked it with a goal. In 2007, after two respectable seasons in Spain’s third division, he joined second division side Celta de Vigo, where he played for five years. But it wasn’t until a move to Rayo Vallecano in 2011 until his career took off, with fifteen goals in 2011/2012.

At one point during his Celta years, the forward enrolled himself in University for twelve months, only to leave to pursue a career at Rayo. Rayo’s coach, Jose Ramon Sandoval, had profound influence of Michu’s career in just one season. “Sandoval was like a father – he was very important for why I am here now,” Michu told The Guardian in 2012. “I believe in myself, but the most important thing is that the trainer believes in you. When I stayed in Celta Vigo for years, I played one Sunday and then two Sundays on the bench – it’s not possible to go to the top. At Rayo Vallecano I played all the minutes. You have the confidence and you can explode, scoring 15 goals. Here I have a lot of confidence from Michael: play, play, play.”

This earned him a move to Swansea, with Rayo’s hand forced by financial troubles. Although his £2 million fee was a bargain, Michu said: “Rayo had no money, so £2m is like ‘Wow!’ I went on a free to Rayo and if they go down [at the end of last season] I am free again. Also there are a lot of crises in Spain — Rayo’s economy is catastrophic. I can tell you that £2 millon is very good for them. I think my price at the top is only £4m.”

At Swansea, Michu found a home away from home. Wales has often been compared to Oviedo, a small mining town in Northern Spain and within Swansea’s squad was a plethora of technically gifted Spanish players. Michu added size to the team, all of his 6′ 1” frame, and specialized in a attacking-midfield poachers’ role, picking up loose balls and venturing into the box for crosses, which is how Michu scored the majority of his eighteen goals in thirty-five games that season, ranging from a goal in each of his meetings with Manchester United and a brace against Arsenal.

His goal celebration was almost always the same, a hand cupped to the ear. “It is from my days in Spain,” Michu told Swansea’s official website upon joining the club. “When I was at Celta Vigo in the second division, we played Gorka Pintado’s old club Granada and I missed a penalty.

“Granada went up that season to the top league, and then I moved to Rayo Vallecano who were also in the top division.

“In the warm up to that game I could hear the Granada fans shouting ‘Hey Michu, please take a penalty today’.

“But the game finished 1-0 in our favor and I scored the only goal. So when I scored, I just put my hand to my ear and listened to the Granada support, but they were quiet. It was just a bit of harmless fun with the Granada fans.

“Of course, now I am at Swansea, but I still like to do the celebration because it reminds me of my journey here.”

It was only Swansea’s second consecutive season in the Premier League, but Michu’s goals helped them compete for a European spot and a League Cup triumph saw them earn a Europa League berth in the 2013/2014 season. No longer could his knack for scoring go unnoticed and his astonishing form in 2013 was also enough to earn himself a Spain cap in the midst of Vicente del Bosque’s Golden Generation. The only way was up for the twenty-seven-year-old and a big-money move was in the offing. But Swansea held onto him over the summer of 2013, as the club decided to hold off all offers under £30m.

And then an ill-fated ankle injury, which Michu has yet to put behind him. They tell stories of him sitting buried at the back of airplanes among the press, instead of at the front with Swansea’s traveling squad, and isolating himself from Swansea’s squad in his recovery. A disappointing loan move to Napoli couldn’t resurrect his form, despite giving him his Champions League debut.

What next for Michu? He’s with Langreo in what appears to be a short-term move to regain top-level fitness. His brother, Hernan Perez, told Radio Marca that the next hurdle for Michu is as much physiological as it is physical. “He has suffered terribly. Many people would have thrown in the towel already,” he said.

“[The psychological] element is possibly what we have to work on. It’s not that he’s in a bad way but it is true that he has gone from being a professional footballer to finding that interrupted now for almost two years. He has to reconnect, feel like a sportsman again, feel useful, feel healthy. He’s a strong guy and in very little time I think he will be at 100% of his mental capacity too.”

Now, the Spanish club aren’t even sure who owns his rights, Swansea or Napoli. At the age of twenty-nine, his opportunities are limited. But this is Michu, and he’s known for short bursts of form and now would be the time for one more. Otherwise, he’ll likely return to University of Oviedo, where studied business administration and management at the beginning of his career. Speaking to Mail Online in 2012, he said he would like to finish his degree at some point.

Photo credit: Benjamin Blackler, via Flickr

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.