Kaiky Fernandez and Lazaro Vinicius may have been signings made with the future in mind. But, with UD Almeria raging against the dying of the La Liga light, there is understandable disappointment that neither player is contributing all that much in the present.
Both Kaiky (18) and Lazaro (20) joined last summer for £6 million apiece. A hefty investment indeed for most clubs in Spain’s top flight. Let alone one who only secured their return to the top flight in 2022.
Between them, however, the two Brazilians have played fewer than 750 minutes of football in Almeria colours. Just 262 of those belong to Lazaro. Given his price-tag, and the fact that he arrived last summer from Brazilian giants Flamengo despite attracting Premier League interest, Lazaro was perhaps the most exciting of Almeria’s summer signings.
And, thereby, perhaps the most disappointing.
West Ham United wanted Lazaro before his La Liga switch
“There was an offer (from West Ham United),” Flamengo’s vice president Marcos Braz confirmed around six months ago. “It has to be improved. Whether it will be improved or not is not up to us. We are waiting (for a new offer).
“Lazaro is a very important player. We count on him. It depends much more on who wants to buy him, because we don’t want to sell. They already know the value we want.”
That magic number, in the end, proved to be £6 million. In time, Lazaro – who has eight goals in just five games for Brazil at youth level – may proved to be an excellent, value-for-money acquisition for Almeria.
But, after scoring or assisting six goals during his final 10 league starts at Flamengo, it would probably be an understatement to expect that much more expected of him at the Power Horse Stadium. There was certainly no explosion out of the blocks from a man arrived chomping at the proverbial bit.
“West Ham have made a first proposal of around five million euros,” Brazilian reporter Jorge Nicola said in August.
Six months on, Lazaro’s tally of La Liga starts in his new Spanish home stands at a measly two.
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