Liverpool will be hoping that Riera can finally solve the club’s dilemma on the left hand side of midfield
Albert Riera joined Liverpool for an undisclosed fee believed to be around £8 million. He joins from Spanish side Espanyol and Rafa Benitez hopes that he will give the creativity the club desperately needs on the left hand side of midfield.
Albert Riera does have a little bit of Premiership experience having played 15 times for Manchester City in the 2005-06 season on loan from Espanyol. He scored his only goal at home against Newcastle United.
Riera started his professional football career at his hometown club Real Mallorca where he made 44 appearances scoring six times. He then moved on to France to play for Bordeaux and had a successful spell making 63 appearances in two seasons with the club scoring nine goals including five in ten in European competition.
Riera then moved back to Spain to play for Espanyol before his loan spell at Manchester City. He went back to Espanyol the following season and enjoyed two successful seasons with the club scoring 12 goals in 76 games. One of his 12 goals included a strike in the 2007 UEFA Cup final against fellow Spanish rivals Sevilla.
Unfortunately the match ended in a penalty shoot out defeat. He has also won five Spanish caps scoring his only goal in a Euro 2008 3-1 qualifier victory over Denmark in 2007. Liverpool will be hoping that Riera can solve the club’s dilemma on the left hand side of midfield.