Gary Lineker has praised one-time Liverpool forward Iago Aspas for the impact he has made in La Liga since ending an unsuccessful spell at Anfield.
Aspas was signed by Brendan Rodgers from Celta Vigo in June 2013 and was handed the famous number 9 shirt. But the Spaniard struggled to impress and made only 14 Premier League appearances in a red jersey, including only five starts.
Perhaps cruelly, he was branded a 'flop' and is best remembered by Liverpool supporters for taking a bizarre corner against Chelsea in 2014, which set up a counter-attack for Jose Mourinho's side, in a match that condemned the Reds to a 2-0 defeat that indirectly handed the Premier League title to Manchester City.
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Aspas would eventually go on loan to Sevilla before making a permanent switch back to his original club Celta Vigo for £3.5million in 2015. And he has never looked back since, scoring 117 goals in 230 La Liga appearances.
And when Match of the Day presenter Lineker, who played in the Spanish top flight with Barcelona, was asked if he agreed or disagreed with the notion that Aspas was underrated, the former England star was in total agreement.
Appearing in a video for Joe Football, the footballer-turned presenter was asked to give his view on a number of statement Tweets from fans. And when one Tweet read: "Iago Aspas is on of the most underrated strikers of our generation for real," he acknowledged the sentiment.
Lineker said: "Well, he certainly has been a really consistent goalscorer hasn't he? For a long time. What is he, about 34 now? Brilliant for Celta Vigo over such a long period of time, so I would probably say that he is underrated and deserves a bit of credit. Obviously he had that little spell at Liverpool where things didn't really go for him, but I'm not going to argue with you on that one."
Aspas' success in his homeland led to an international call-up, making 18 appearances for Spain and scoring six goals.
