Wednesday 11 November 2015 12:23, UK
Former Swansea striker Michu is set to return to football this weekend in the fourth tier of Spanish football.
The 29-year-old has joined Unión Popular de Langreo, a team managed by his brother Hernán Pérez, after leaving Swansea by mutual consent on Monday.
He scored 28 goals in 67 games for the Premier League club after joining from Rayo Vallecano in 2012 for £2m, but injuries hampered his time in Wales after an impressive first season at the Liberty Stadium.
Michu, who won his only cap for Spain during qualification for the 2014 World Cup, spent last season on loan at Napoli but featured just five times.
Langreo hosted the forward during pre-season to help him regain fitness but he had to once again undergo ankle surgery.
"He has suffered terribly. Many people would have thrown in the towel already," Hernan Perez told Radio Marca.
"The psychological element is possibly what we have to work on. It's not that he's in a bad way but it is true that he has gone from being a professional footballer to finding that interrupted now for almost two years.
"He has to re-connect, feel like a sportsman again, feel useful, feel healthy. He's a strong guy and in very little time I think he will be at 100 percent of his mental capacity too.
"Hopefully he can get back to being what he was; we are going to help him. I hope that him playing for us is just anecdotal and that in a few months' time he is back playing at a higher level.
"If in three or four months' time he is fine, if his ankle responds, if he recovers that muscle and if emotionally he is fine, and a first division club comes, then he can play in the first division; if it's a second division club, then in the second.
"But, even though I would say this as his brother, he is very honourable and he did not want to sign with anyone until he was 100 percent fit. You can't con people."
