Celta Vigo’s backup goalkeeper Sergio Alvarez is out for the season with knee ligament damage he suffered in May. Due to Alvarez being out for the season, the Spanish football authorities granted Celta permission to make an emergency signing of another player in LaLiga or a free agent.
With the No. 2 keeper injured, most people would expect the club to sign a player to take his place. Instead, Celta decided that the only way to avoid relegation — only two points separates the club from the relegation zone — is with the signing of its former striker Nolito from Sevilla.
RC Celta closes the long awaited return of Nolito. He will be incorporated immediately, in the absence of a medical examination and contractual details.
— RC Celta English #WithPassion (@RCCeltaEN) June 18, 2020
At first glance, the Nolito transfer looks incredibly bizarre: A striker to replace a goalkeeper? Then you realize how awful Celta’s attack has been this season it begins to make more sense. Celta has scored the least amount of goals in LaLiga with 22 in 29 games.
The club has scored about as often as someone has said, “Wow, 2020 has been such a good year.”
As for Nolito and Sevilla, the former Spanish international only made 12 starts this season and his contract was set to expire at the end of the month, so Celta’s sneaky move is nowhere near as controversial as Barcelona leaving Leganes for dead and stealing Martin Braithwaite.
The real winner in all of this madness is the goalkeeper on Celta’s B-team that will now get called up to ride the bench with the big boys. He’s the big winner until actual starter Ruben Blanco somehow gets injured and then Celta will be allowing goals faster than the U.S. is allowing coronavirus to spread.
This clever move of replacing an injured keeper and bolstering another area with an emergency signing could be hilariously exploited by other LaLiga clubs. Backup goalkeepers across the Spanish top-flight will start to get extremely nervous when they see the manager walking around with a sledgehammer during training.
