That Real Valladolid finished 13th in La Liga last season was nothing short of a minor miracle.
With 32 goals in 38 games, they were the third-lowest scorers in the entire division after all.
And with the Pucela hoping to avoid being drawn into a relegation battle in 2020/21, they invested a club-record £3.5 million fee in a man who was supposed to give Sergio’s shot-shy side a much-needed ruthless streak in the final third.
Seven games into his La Liga career, it’s fair to say Weissman hasn’t lived up to expectations – or that historic price-tag.
A man who scored 30 times in 31 matches for Wolfsberger last term, winning the Austrian Bundesliga’s Golden Boot for good measure, drew yet another blank in Monday’s 2-0 defeat to Villarreal.
That is seven in a row.
Valladolid, as a result, are bottom of La Liga, winless and the lowest goalscorers in the division. Despite paying a club-record fee on a new number nine, they have gone backwards.
“Weissman still needs to adapt – to the language, his team-mates…,” a clearly concerned Sergio said recently.
It seems a long time since the Israel international was being considered by Scottish champions Celtic as a potential replacement for the talismanic Odsonne Edouard, as reported by the Telegraph.
Of course, it’s always a risk signing a player from a so-called ‘lesser’ European league. But the remarkable success enjoyed by Erling Haaland since leaving Salzburg for Borussia Dortmund might have convinced the Hoops to take a punt on another man who scored for fun over in Austria.
While Haaland continues to soar at one of the biggest clubs on the continent, however, Weissman is rapidly becoming a £3.5 million problem for a club chained to the bottom of La Liga.
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