His goal-scoring record wasn't that great before he came here. He had been playing in La Liga, for an average side, but most of the league is probably championship standard, and the top three teams obviously miles ahead. He'd scored a lot in the Segunda Division but that's probably more like bottom-end Championship/top-end League 1.
It was quite clear to tell that he was very good at timing runs and being in the right place at the right time though, but he was never getting a game up front in a Karanka side, when we had Negredo.
We would have had to play two up top, and played a lot less defensive and we didn't even do that in the championship, so were never going to do it in the prem. Playing him up on his own won't work, as he'll be sandwiched between two centre-backs, and not be able to find the space without support.
Not a criticism of Karanka though, we were stronger in defence than attack, so playing defensive was the only game in town, even though we were not even strong enough there for the Premiership.