Hercules are the feel good story of the start of this La Liga season. The team that finished second in the Segunda Division last season are currently lying fourteenth in La Liga but have beaten Sevilla at home and winning 2-0 in the Nou Camp.
This is as well as leading for almost an hour against Real Madrid in the Sky Sports game last weekend and being level with 10 minutes left.
Anyone who has seen the Alicante-based side play this season will see they play a counter-attacking game that is based behind the traditional ‘two banks of four’ leaving their two summer signings isolated up front to become one of the most potent attacking partnerships in the first two months of the season.
Free Transfer David Trezeguet is leading scorer with five goals but it is the £3m signing from Dortmund, Nelson Valdez who has been lighting up the league, getting four goals in five games himself and linking up with the midfield.
The 26-year old, who has 10 international goals, seems to have finally found the perfect setup to make the most of his talents after just 15 goals in almost 120 games for Borussia Dortmund. A continuance of this type of form will no doubt have most mid-table Premiership clubs on high alert.
However, all is not well beneath the surface for Hercules. Their majority shareholder was allegedly caught on tape stating that he has paid off opposition players during the course of last season.
Match-fixing is not a recognised crime in Spain, which meant that Spanish F.A. investigations were hamstrung by the law. However, all that is about to change when it becomes a criminal offence in December. That could possibly allow the Spanish F.A. to restart investigations and potentially cause chaos in the Hercules boardroom.
If that happens, a January cut-price sale of Valdez could be on the cards. Roy Hodgson is known to be a fan. But Tottenham and Sunderland are known to be interested.
About the Author
