One Season Wonder & Former Swansea Striker Michu Retires From Football Aged 31
Former Swansea City striker Michu has retired from football at the age of 31 - completing quite possibly one of the most drastic falls from grace that football has seen in the last decade.
He was an unknown quantity from Real Vallecano before making the £2m move to the Liberty Stadium in 2012. The then 26-year-old was part of Michael Laudrup's Spanish overhaul of the Swansea playing squad when he replaced Brendan Rodgers that summer, and Michu was an instant hit.
Marking his Swansea debut with a brace against QPR, Michu quickly became the highly regarded signing of the season after scoring 18 goals in his first campaign with the club. Not bad at all for a man that cost the Swans so little.
However, Newton's third law of motion states that what goes up, must come down; and that's exactly what happened for Swansea's number nine.
It's incredible what a few injuries can do to a player. The following campaign saw Michu miss out on a lot of football with recurring knee and ankle injuries - hugely hindering his form.
After struggling for fitness, the summer of 2014 saw the Spaniard go out on loan to Napoli, in hope of rekindling the kind of performances that his first season in a Swansea shirt saw.
However, it wasn't to be, Michu made just three appearances in a Napoli shirt before returning to the Liberty in 2015 - where his contract was then mutually terminated.
A couple of seasons in the lower tiers of Spanish football has evidently proven to not be working for Michu - and this weekend saw the once reported £30m man retire. How the mighty fall.
