Former Blackburn and Manchester City striker Roque Santa Cruz recently joined Malaga to end his spell with South American football once again.
When the striker had joined Cruz Azul, it was thought that this would be the end of his time in European football. Despite being a Paraguayan, Santa Cruz has largely spent much of his professional career in Europe playing for the likes of Bayern Munich, Blackburn, and Manchester City. In the last five years, though, he has been on loan at various clubs. Poor form coupled with homesickness saw him return to South American football with Mexican club Cruz Azul.
The striker scored four goals in only 10 appearances for Cruz Azul before deciding to return to Malaga. He has come to the Spanish club on a loan deal, but it was feared that the striker may never make a competitive appearance due to a succession of injury problems. For the first time, Santa Cruz seems happy that the injury problems have started to clear and he will be able to make his debut, for the third time, in front of the Malaga supporters. Santa Cruz has already been to the club in two loan spells. The striker has revealed that he could make his debut in the upcoming match against Espanyol.
Malaga have been in poor form throughout this season and they could certainly use with some goals from the Paraguayan centre forward. Malaga have the worst record in the league when it comes to scoring goals. They have managed only seven in 13 games this season. Most of the goals have been from Charles whereas the likes of Ricardo Horta and Cop continue to disappoint, as they still for the opening goal of their season.“Now I am happy to serve the training and equipment from the environment to live from day to day,” said Santa Cruz.