Vicente del Bosque: “Michu, I choose you!”

David Villa is out, and Michu is in. After Atletico Madrid’s forward injured his ankle in a 2-1 victory over Celta Vigo, he had no choice but to forego his spot in the Spanish National Team that would be competing in the 2014 World Cup Qualifiers. Spain still has Belarus and Georgia on their Group I plate, and they’ve tapped the Swansea City striker to take Villa’s spot in the roster.

Michu signed a new four-year contract with the Premier League’s Swansea City club just this January. While the team hasn’t been exactly doing well in the current season, the 27 year-old has grown to become an integral cog in the squad’s play. Initially, he was merely intended in to fill the gap behind the striker in Swansea’s 4-2-3-1 formation after Gylfi Sigurdsson’s departure. However, Michu ultimately took on the striker role upon his arrival on the team. He was able to turn doubters into believers as early as his first game in the Premier League. In his debut last year, Michu scored two of the Swans’ five goals in its clean sheet domination of the Queens Park Rangers. This was just the beginning, though, as he continued to hone his game and consistently turned in one incredible performance after another. In fact, earlier this year, Michu helped Swansea attain its first-ever League Cup, which is the team’s very first major trophy in its 101-year history. This led to him being heralded as the club’s “Player of the Year”, the Supporters’ “Player of the Year”, the Away “Player of the Year”, and the Top Goalscorer (he bagged more than 20 goals in all competitions during this season).

Spain National Team manager Vicente del Bosque made the call to take Michu instead of going for Juventus’ Fernando Llorente or Tottenham’s Roberto Soldado. It must be noted, though, that this wasn’t the first time that the Oviedo native has been considered to join Spain. He was supposed to suit up for the national team for a friendly match against Uruguay earlier this year. Unfortunately, this didn’t push through. But now, Michu finally has a real opportunity to showcase his abilities in the World Cup stage.
Along with France, Spain is guaranteed to finish in the top two spots in its group. Still, the team would need a total of four points from their two remaining games to completely secure its spot in the World Cup. Spain probably won’t have a hard time against Belarus and Georgia; however, there’s always the chance for an upset. Whether you’re feeling a Spain victory in those games or not, check out Au Freebets. On the site, you can bet on Michu’s World Cup qualifying games and Premier League matches. According to the leading bookmakers, the odds overwhelmingly favor Michu and the rest of the Spanish national team to topple both of their adversaries in the qualifiers. With that in mind, you may want to partake in some of the punting action—visit here to wager on numerous football events and other sports.

It’ll be interesting to see how Michu will fare in his national team stint. The Swansea striker has been waiting for this for quite a while, thus you can expect him to lay it all on the line once he finally hits the field with the rest of Spain’s finest. All we can say is that it’s been a long time coming.