Blackburn Rovers fans will look back on the era of Roque Santa Cruz fondly as the days before the dawn of their collapse.
The exotic talent that was Roque Santa Cruz is something Blackburn fans scantly enjoy nowadays stuck in midtable Championship purgatory, which is why this douse of nostalgic relief will come as a welcome surprise.
Before making his reported £3.5 million switch in 2007 (as per The Guardian) Santa Cruz had accumulated quite an extensive trophy collection at Bayern – consisting of six domestic cups, five Bundesliga titles and a Champions League winners medal.
So it may have come as a bit of a surprise when former manager Mark Hughes recruited him to work alongside the likes of Benny McCarthy, Jason Roberts and a young Matt Derbyshire (appreciate McCarthy was a player in his day).
Hughes said at the time (The Guardian): “Santa Cruz is a young player, an international with a good reputation who is playing at a top European club.
“The good thing from our point of view is that his fitness levels are fine as he has been playing in the Copa America.”
And Hughes was not wrong. Santa Cruz bagged 19 goals in 37 Premier League games earning the Lancashire a 7th placed finish in the Premier League – something they have not managed since.
Indeed, it is no coincidence that their form deteriorated following his big-money move to Manchester City in 2009 – who were just beginning to flex their muscles in the transfer market at the time.
Despite his move, however, the Paraguayan was unable to replicate his earlier form and after just 24 appearances for the club was quickly shipped off to Real Betis on loan, which was shortly followed by a loan and permanent move to Malaga CF.
26 goals in 109 appearances later Santa Cruz found himself on a plane to Mexican outfit CD Cruz Azul, but, in a bizarre turn of events, was returned just half-a-year later on loan.
Now 37 and back playing in his native Paraguay, the forward is a distance relic of the good and bad times for all those clubs he represented.
