Blues have had their fair share of players who have made inauspicious debuts, and they certainly have had their fair share of players with unpromising careers in the royal blue shirt. However, you’ve really got to feel for the subject of today’s look at a past player.

Borja Oubiña

Borja Oubiña Meléndez had one of the shortest careers in a Blues shirt. Having played seven minutes (including injury time) in the 1-0 win over Bolton in September 2007, the Spaniard was picked to start the next game at Anfield. He lasted thirteen minutes before he got a nasty injury to his anterior cruciate ligament – and that was the last we saw of him. It was a terrible shame; Oubiña was slated to be the midfield playmaker to make Blues tick and to help transform a team of battlers into a more cultured, stylish passing unit.

After a spell of rehabilitation here in England, Oubiña’s loan contract was cancelled in February 2008 and the Vigo-born midfielder returned to his hometown team. In the season before he made his ill-fated move to England, Oubiña had made a couple of appearances for the Spanish national team and for a while it had looked like he would make a big money move. As it turned out, it wasn’t until December 2008 that Borja played again for Vigo, when he made a four-minute sub appearance for the Galicians against UD Las Palmas. He went on to make fifteen appearances that year, and it looked like he’d finally got his career back on track.

Unfortunately, his ACL went again in September 2009, and once again Oubiña spent a season on the sidelines. Once again, it was almost a year and a half until he played again, when he made a friendly appearance in January 2011 against near rivals OD Ourense. The central midfielder slowly came back into the thick of it, and he went on to finish that season having made four appearances.

This season has been much happier for the Spaniard; having made nineteen appearances for Vigo in their Liga Adelante campaign. He’s considered an important part of the team, and has drawn admiration from his team mates for his fight against his injury problems to get back into the team. I’ve looked to see how he’s getting on right at this moment, and the answer is – he’s injured. However, it’s “just” a grade one tear to a thigh muscle and he should be back within the next week or so.

It’s always a shame when a player keeps getting continually injured; especially when they have shown talent to get far. I hope for Borja’s sake this latest injury is just a small setback and that he can keep turning out for Los Celestes.

Tags: Borja Oubina