A striker with a ravenous appetite
for scoring, his 16 goals in his first
22 starts this season represented
almost half of Brest’s haul as they
pushed for promotion.
In the best form of his life this
term, the 30-year-old revelation
was signed in the summer of 2017
from Reims after a career that saw
him becoming something of an
archetypal nearly man: moments
of heady optimism segueing into
rude awakenings.
And he has certainly had a long
string of setbacks to contend with,
failing to make it from Paris Saint-
Germain reserves to the first team,
then a dismal spell at Montpellier,
followed by the agony of tearing
cruciate ligaments in February 2017.
Mobile and unusually unselfish
for a centre-forward, he insists:
“I get as much satisfaction from
creating a goal as scoring one.”Gaetan
CHARBONNIER
BREST
Ilija NESTOROVSKI
PALERMO
Any hopes the Sicilian club have of
ending their two-year Serie A exile
will largely depend on the physical
condition of their Macedonian
striker and skipper, who for the
last couple of months has been
laid low by a calf injury.
In his absence, Palermo have not
been nearly as effective, missing the
skills of the 28-year-old dead-ballspecialist who is able to produce
long-range shots with amazing
amounts of dip and curl.
After playing in Macedonia and
the Czech Republic, he built his
move to Italy in 2016 on the back of
a stupendous sequence of finishing
for Croat side Inter Zapresic, for
whom he managed to score 71
goals in three seasons.David
BATES
HAMBURG
No one should be particularly
surprised that the 22-year-old
Scottish centre-back has become
a cult hero at the Volksparkstadion
since arriving on a free from
Rangers in the summer as German
fans still have a soft spot for no-
nonsense stoppers – and he most
definitely comes into that category.
After falling into the second
division for the first time
in their history, HSV have
had to roll up their sleeves
and meet fire with fire- which is meat and
drink for such a
combative individual.
Having won his first
cap for Scotland last
autumn, he has not only
made light work of the
Deutschland culture shock
but also improved his
game, appearing much
more comfortable on
the ball.
Ruben
CASTRO
LAS PALMAS
While attempts to immediately right
the wrongs of their relegation from
the top flight last season might not
be going to plan for Las Palmas at
the moment, at least their veteran
centre-forward has been living up
to expectations, regularly among
the goals and prominent in the
Segunda Division scoring charts.
Back for a second spell at his
hometown club, the diminutive 37-
year-old remains as fit and sharp
as ever and now ranks third in the
all-time list of second-tier scorers.
A natural goleador, he was at
his prime during a magnificent
eight-year sojourn at Real Betis,
where he racked up 148 goals in all
competitions to become the most
prolific scorer in the club’s history.
After two decades on the pro
circuit, he is fast approaching 250
career goals. Capped at under-21
level way back when, he was
recently cleared after a long-
running domestic violence case.3
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