Oriel Riera promises to be a crucial signing for Wigan Athletic in their quest for promotion back into the Premier League.The six foot tall centre forward arrives from Osasuna where he scored 13 goals in 37 matches. Click here to see Riera’s goals at Osasuna.
The 27 year old played in the Barcelona youth system with Jordi Gomez before moving on to Cultural Leonesa (from the Castilian city of Leon) , Celta Vigo, then Cordoba. However, it was his next move to Alcorcón, that saw him develop into a more complete player, scoring 24 goals in 73 matches for the Madrid club.
In order to find out more about Riera’s time at Pamplona we reached out to Patxi Cervantes of Osasuna fan site www.osasunista.net.
Here are his comments:
To start I should explain that Osasuna is the club from Pamplona (Navarra), who played the past 14 seasons in La Liga, but were relegated on May 18th on the last match day of the season.
Osasuna, like other clubs in the north of Spain, play in a typically English style, with an emphasis on physical strength and commitment. They play a direct style, big on set pieces such as corner kicks.
Because of that Osasuna have always played with a tall centre forward, good in the air. Players like Patxi Iriguíbel, Jesús Orejuela, John Aloisi, Savo Milosevic, Kike Sola and Oriol Riera have been important for our team.
Riera was signed in summer of 2013 from Alcorcón of Madrid, from the second division. This season he adapted well to the Osasuna style of play. He is aggressive, a good header of the ball and works hard for the team. He has been a success at Osasuna through his goals and he has endeared himself to the fans through his style of play and willingness to fight for the cause.
On Riera’s web site he has posted a video where he says goodbye to the fans. He says that although he has only been at Osasuna for a year he has felt well appreciated and has become a good player and a better person as a result. He affirms that he did not want to play for another first division team in Spain if it were not Osasuna and for that reason he is going to England.
We are happy that he has signed for Wigan, given that his departure from Osasuna was inevitable. Our club is in debt and needs that 2.5 million euros.
Lots of luck to Oriel Riera at Wigan.
Thanks to JJ of http://threeamigoswigan.com/ for this post.
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