Blackburn midfielder Morten Gamst Pedersen has likened Roque Santa
Cruz to Fernando Torres and tipped the Paraguay striker to get even
better.
Liverpool splashed out a club record £23million on Spanish star
Torres, while Rovers boss Mark Hughes shopped around before picking
up Santa Cruz for just £3.8million from Bayern Munich.
The 26-year-old scored on his debut with only his second touch in
English football, and has weighed in with another two goals
since.
Santa Cruz has so far displayed all the qualities of an archetypal
striker, much to Pedersen's delight as he is an ideal target
man.
"He's good in the air, good with the ball, has pace and is strong -
he's a bit like Torres. They have the same kind of qualities,"
assessed Pedersen.
"It's good to play with him, and good to have a player like him on
our side. I'm glad he signed for us.
"He's a bargain from what I've see him of him so far. He's been
brilliant for us.
"Although he can score goals, I don't think we've seen the best of
him yet. He's just going to get better and better.
"Once he gets to know us better, then hopefully he can give us
more."
There is no doubt Santa Cruz has made a fine impact in the Premier
League so far, but given he is playing for Rovers, appreciably he
has attracted far fewer headlines than Torres.
