Puado plucks the daisy with Samitier, Escolà and Reixach in the spotlight

BarcelonaJavi Puado has gone from being a good complement to the scoring strikers to Espanyol's most decisive attacking player. The Catalan striker, who is two months away from the end of his contract has not yet decided his future, has taken a step forward this season. Without a Batman to complement him, this year it's the eternal Robin who is assuming the offensive leadership of a team in which, since his debut, he has never been the star or the top scorer.

The blue and white forward has scored nine goals this year, the same number as Veliz, Cardona, Roberto Fernández and Cheddira, the four forwards on loan with whom the sporting management tried to make people forget the long shadow of Braithwaite. The Dane scored 22 goals last season, compared to 17 for Puado. A year earlier, he had scored 10, compared to 17 for Joselu and nine for the Catalan, who Against Atlético de Madrid he equaled his best record in the First Division.

He was overshadowed by RDT in the previous two seasons. The Madrid native scored 17 goals in 2021-22, and 23 in 2020-21, compared to Puado's 5 and 13, respectively. 7 The Espanyol player didn't score in the 2019-20 season, after leaving on loan to Zaragoza midway through the season. Wu Lei and Ferreyra were the top scorers, with eight goals each. During his debut in 2018-19, Puado scored one goal, while Borja Iglesias scored 20.

The Catalan is the longest-serving player in the current Espanyol squad, with seven seasons and 202 matches under his belt, and the only survivor from the team that last qualified Espanyol for Europe. The Blue and Whites are refusing to give up on him, although they are aware that until he secures a permanent contract, they will not be able to offer him any certainty regarding a contract and a project that is worthy of a future. "He's from the club, he feels the club and the colors. The work he does in every game is commendable, and if he even scores, even better," praised Manolo González a few months ago. The Espanyol manager thus valued not only his indisputable offensive contribution, but also his defensive work. One statistic sums up his efforts: he is the player with the seventh most recoveries in the Espanyol squad (68), ahead even of Cabrera and Kumbulla, the starting center-back pairing.

59 goals against the elite at under 27 years of age

As for the collective, their goals are Espanyol's great hope (with permission from Joan Garcia's strikes) to secure survival. Individually, he's fighting for Zarra (ahead of him are Sancet, with 13 goals; Ayoze, with 12, and Kike García, with 11) in a season in which he has worn the captain's armband in 22 of the 26 matches. A leader on and off the pitch, he has yet to be sent off and tops another symbolic list: he's the all-time leading player born in Barcelona, ​​​​with 59 goals scored between Espanyol and Zaragoza. No other scorer from the Catalan capital can match him.

He far surpasses Aitor Cantalapiedra's 48 goals between Greece and the Netherlands, Rubén Alcaraz's 39, Álex Bermejo's 25 between Portugal and Spain, Miguel Berry's 19 in North America, and Adrian Berna's 15. Just over a month away from turning 27, it's not out of the question that he could reach the hundred mark, a figure only within reach of Barça legends such as Josep Samitier, Justo Tejada, Josep Escolà and Carles Reixach, as well as Joaquim Murillo or an old acquaintance of the Espanyol faithful, Sergio García. Puado wants to continue his path and in the process vindicate Espanyol as a a prolific factory of Catalan forwards.