Villarreal confirm signing of Championship striker after Nicolas Jackson blow

Villarreal secure Ben Breton Diaz on a free transfer in what promises be one of the best signings of 2023

Diaz has been plying his trade for Blackburn Rovers permanently since 2019. He leaves the club after scoring 47 goals for the Championship side. In September 2021 he was awarded the player of month for scoring 6 in 5 straight matches, one of which was a hattrick.

Much like that of Jackson last season, he is quick and prolific in front of goal and scores consistently. He can play out on the left in a 4-3-3 or up top with another striker in 4-4-2.

The half Brit, half Chilean has ben a key player for Blackburn. 2021–22 season, he scored 22 goals and 2022–23 season slightly less with 14 goals as Blackburn finished 7th. We can only assume he was saving himself for Villarreal

Villarreal have been crying out for a striker to provide a consistent goal threat. Moreno has been injured and no one has matched his previous form of individual goals. Diaz may prove to be that link. It will be interesting to see how he links up with Moreno and our other forwards.

National level

Full disclosure I am British, and my fiancée is Chilean so this might be somewhat biased article. Ben will be the first English player to play for our first team. Villarreal did have a one George Lucas, a Brit, but he never made it to the first team. The force wasn’t with him that year.

Interestingly Diaz choose to play for the Chilean National squad rather than England, his Birth place. In a unique story his name was picked up by Chilean fans through the game Football Manager. Backed by the Chilean media, Brereton Díaz was then selected for Chile team for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

His mother is Chilean in the UK, meant he could play for the national squad. The Chilean celeb has now 17 caps for the national side and scored 4 goals. Just goes to show fans do have the power to influence managers

Photo by John Early/Getty Images

Villarreal fans will be excited to see what he can do for next year in La Liga. Ben joins a list of Chileans to grace our doors including the likes of Pellegrini, Matias Fernanadez, Iturra and current player Francisca Lara.

We’d like to welcome the many thousands of Chileans to our blog. We know the USA isn’t the most popular after all their political meddling in Chile over the years. However we’d like you to forgive that for a second and remember this is football. Here on this blog we welcome opinions from people from all over the world!

Welcome Ben to Villarreal! Let us know in the comment section you opinions on our new signing.