Jay Rodriguez has re-joined his boyhood club, Burnley, after leaving them in 2012 to join Southampton. He returns to the club, for an undisclosed fee which is believed to be around £10 million.
Rodriguez broke into the first team in late 2007 having been promoted from the youth team. Having had a stop-start career with various injuries, Rodriguez appears to now have the fitness to compliment his undoubted quality – which has convinced Sean Dyche to bring the 29 year old back to Turf Moor.
The Lancaster club’s official website states that Rodriguez is happy to be back where it all began;
“It feels great to be home and I can’t wait to be running out at Turf Moor again”
Player History
Rodriguez joined Burnley in 2006 after progressing through their youth academy, but since leaving Burnley, Rodriguez has played for Southampton and West Brom.
During his 5 years at Southampton he managed to score 26 Premier League goals, 15 of those coming in the 2013/14 season. Rodriguez’s form in the league in 2013/14 led many to believe he was very likely to be in England squad for World Cup 2014, unfortunately he suffered a serious knee injury in April 2014 and missed not only the World Cup but the whole of the 2014/15 season. He returned at the beginning of the 2015/16 to find himself lower in the pecking order at Southampton and never regained the form he previously had found. His goal scoring stats for the Saints was as follows:
| Season | Games | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| 2012/13 | 35 | 6 |
| 2013/14 | 33 | 15 |
| 2014/15 | 0 | 0 |
| 2015/16 | 12 | 0 |
| 2016/17 | 24 | 5 |
Rodriguez then signed for West Brom in the summer of 2017, for a fee of around £12 million. In a tough season for Rodriguez, West Brom went on to be relegated. Rodriguez managed 7 goals in a side that finished bottom of the league and struggled to create chances, only scoring 31 goals as a team. West Brom fell agonisingly short of promotion to the Premiership last season, losing to Aston Villa in the play-off semi finals. Despite this Jay Rodriguez formed a formidable partnership with Dwight Gayle. Rodriguez managing a fantastic 22 goals and 6 assists in the league
| Season | Games | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| 2017/18 | 37 | 7 |
| 2018/19 | 45 | 22 |
Jay Rodriguez has represented England once in 2013, starting in a 2-0 loss to Chile. He also represented the under 21s on one occasion.
Fantasy Football Potential
In Jay Rodridguez, Burnley and Sean Dyche have added a slightly different option up front from their current forwards Chris Wood and Ashley Barnes. Dyche is usually very shrewd in the transfer market and is unlikely to have spent around £10 million on a player who isn’t going to feature regularly.
As I touched upon earlier, Rodriguez was in fine goal scoring form in the Championship last season and if he can carry that on in the Premier League he may turn out to be a great buy on Fantasy Football. It must be mentioned that Burnley may not be the most creative and goal scoring side, based on recent seasons.
Injuries have always been a problem throughout Rodriguez’s career but he has managed to stay fit for the last 2 seasons. If he recaptures the form and fitness he had in the 2013/14 – Jay Rodriguez could be the lower valued third striker we are all looking for!
Written by Will Gosling (@_WG5)
