Villarreal bring in Alejandro Martinuccio on loan from Fluminense

Villarreal have announced the signing of Argentine striker Alejandro Martinuccio on loan from Fluminense (Brazil). We don't yet know whether there is an option to purchase, but none has been announced.

Martinuccio is 24 years old, born in Buenos Aires, but like Mateo Musacchio qualifies as a European player under La Liga rules (at least, so I'm led to believe). He spent two seasons at Peñarol (Uruguay) and was one of their stars in last year Copa's Libertadores, in which they were the losing finalists. Several of us who watched him in action had him on our list of potential players for Villarreal to add during the summer.

He's a second striker with lots of pace and movement; could be a neat addition to our attack. He certainly should be able to settle in well with fellow Argentine Marco Ruben when he returns from injury. Martinuccio is kind of a late bloomer; he had trials at River Plate and Boca Juniors, but neither signed him. Then with Nuevo Chicago (Argentina), he caught swine flu, which led to him being quarantined from the rest of the team and a long recovery. He hasn't had much playing time with Flu, so let's hope his move here will be just what he needs to get things going again.

Nicknamed "El Negro" (hmmmm.....let's not get into the Luis Suarez / Patrice Evra thing), here's a write-up from when he was chosen as the Copa player of the week.

Welcome to Vila-real, Alejandro, and we wish you all the best with the Yellow Submarine!