Cristian Tello

Date of Birth: - 11th August 1991



Nationality: - Spanish



Height: - 5ft 10inches



Position: - Striker / Winger



Club History: - Espanyol B

- Barcelona



Linked With: - N/A



Estimated Market Value: - N/A, but if I had to say it'd be around the 8-10 million mark AT LEAST.





Club Career:

Tello started playing at the age of 11 with local club CF Can Rull, and after just a year there was scouted by a certain FC Barcelona, but was instantly loaned to another club in Catalonia, CF Damm for one year.



In 2008, Tello's contract expired with Barcelona and RCD Espanyol signed him on a free. He then made his senior debut in the 2009/2010 season, after playing four matches with the B side and then with the club being relegated from the third division.



June 2010 - Tello moved back to FC Barcelona B with the club in the second level.



9th November 2011 - Tello made his debut for Barcelona's first team, playing the full 90 minutes in a 1-0 away win against CE L'Hospitalet for the season's Spanish Cup, and he then scored a brace in the second leg (which finished 9-0 on aggregate).



28th January 2012 - Tello made his La Liga debut appearance coming on as a substitute for Adriano in the 75th minute of a 0-0 away draw at Villarreal CF.



The following weekend (in his first league start), Tello opened the scoring in the 8th minute of a 2-1 home win against Real Sociedad, and went on to play the entire match.



7th MARCH 2012 - Tello replaced Andres Iniesta early into the second half of a match against Bayer Leverkusen at the Camp Nou, making his debut in the UEFA Champions League: within two minutes and his first touch, he scored his first goal, and a great little finish at that, after Cesc Fabregas played him through over the top and he ran from the half way line to net from just inside the penalty area for the 4-0. Six minutes later, from a similar position, he made it 6-0, slotting it in the corner from just outside the box for the hosts in an eventual 7-1 win (10-2 on aggregate).





Club Statistics:

Espanyol B - 4 appearances, 1 goal.

Barcelona B - 39 appearances, 9 goals.

Barcelona - 15 appearances, 7 goals.

Total - 58 appearances, 17 goals.





General Comments:

I must admit, this decision was not easy to decide player of the month, as I enjoy doing players people know little about. I feel recently Tello has received a lot of publicity, which is probably why this profile is a little bit longer than a usual 'Player of the Month' segment is. I chose Tello in the end because in the month of March, Tello has been appearing more and more regularly for Barcelona, and for ANY player, that is some achievement, but at the age of 20? Truly brilliant. I've only seen him a limited amount as he's usually on the substitute bench, but even when he comes on as a sub he just brings energy to the game and just seems to up the tempo. He seems truly passionate for the game as a whole, and as a fan that's great to see. I chose him for the March award also due to his Champions League showing, as covered in this profile. Coming on for your CL debut against Leverkusen is a tough ask for any player in the world, but to score with your first touch, and then score again later on in the game, is very impressive. I will be honest and say that Sessegnon was also very close to picking up my Player of the Month, but unfortunately, he had a very bad start to March with the incident in the Tyne-Weir derby which led me away from choosing him. However, I feel Tello is more than good enough to get my POTM, and I really hope he can be loaned out to a lesser Spanish side and play week in, week out and really show Europe what he can do, because lets face it, he'll always be in the shadow of a certain Lionel Messi if he stays at Barcelona next season, and will get very limited appearances, which I feel could really damage his confidence and form.



Thanks all,



Ed022-}