Welcome to Last Word on Football’s ‘Returning Players’ Series. In this edition, we take a look at Leonardo Ulloa.
Returning Players – Leonardo Ulloa
First Spell at Brighton
“Who’s that man from Argentina? Who’s that man we all adore? Leonardo is his name and he scores a goal a game, and we won’t mention [Glenn] Murray anymore.” This was the chant that rang around the Amex Stadium during an initial 18-month spell on the south coast for Leonardo Ulloa.
One can appreciate the subtle irony of the lyrics now, given Albion fans were still reeling from Glenn Murray’s move to arch-rivals Crystal Palace at the time before he returned to the club and firmly established his legendary status at the club.
Nevertheless, it showed just how much of an impression Ulloa made during his relatively short first spell at the club – the Argentine scored 26 goals in 58 appearances across all competitions.
Ulloa’s season-and-a-half at Brighton proved to be a tumultuous period at the club, which included two managerial departures, two managerial appointments and two promotion near-misses in the Championship play-offs.
Albion secured the frontman’s services in January 2013 from Almeria for an undisclosed fee that was believed to be in the region of £2 million, and he made a perfect start to life at the club with a goal on his debut against Arsenal.
Gus Poyet’s side gave the Gunners a real run for their money in a gripping FA Cup fourth-round tie, twice levelling the scores against Arsene Wenger’s men with Ulloa getting that second equaliser in a valiant 3-2 defeat at the Amex.
His first league goal came in an impressive 2-0 win away at the eventual Championship winners Cardiff City and included an assist for Andrea Orlandi to break the deadlock in south Wales.
Ulloa then made history by scoring the first-ever hat-trick at the Amex in an emphatic 4-1 win over Huddersfield Town, before endearing himself to the Brighton fans even further in that memorable 3-0 triumph over Crystal Palace.
It was the club’s first win at home over their south London foes for 25 years, and the Argentine’s brace, along with David Lopez’s fantastic free-kick, secured one of the most memorable Amex victories.
Another stand-out strike for Ulloa came in a 2-1 victory away to Leeds United in an incident-packed game at Elland Road to secure a place in the play-offs with one league game to spare.
However, the season ended with play-off agony by virtue of a 2-0 aggregate defeat to Palace in the semi-finals, and Poyet’s acrimonious departure soon followed.
Oscar Garcia was brought in to replace Poyet that summer and Ulloa reaffirmed his role as the main frontman at the club by scoring two goals in the club’s first Championship games – albeit in back-to-back 2-1 defeats to Leeds and Derby County respectively.
Garcia’s side struggled for consistency during the first half of the campaign and it was perhaps no coincidence that Ulloa was ruled out for two months with a broken bone in his foot.
Ulloa scored his first goals after returning from injury in a 3-2 Boxing Defeat away at Charlton Athletic and played his part as the Seagulls moved within striking distance of the play-off places with further goals against Doncaster Rovers and Wigan Athletic in the weeks that followed.
History repeated itself in April that year when Ulloa found the net against the would-be champions again, going one better than his exploits against Cardiff the previous campaign by scoring twice in a superb 4-1 win away at Leicester City.
But the Argentine’s pièce de resistance in an Albion shirt came against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on May 3, 2014. The Seagulls faced the prospect of missing out on the play-offs with the scores level at 1-1 heading into stoppage time.
Brighton needed to better Reading’s result at home to Burnley in order to claim the final playoff spot. The Royals had claimed a 2-2 draw at the Madejski Stadium, prompting a premature pitch invasion in Berkshire before news filtered through of Ulloa’s dramatic late winner.
He headed home Craig Mackail-Smith’s cross in the second minute of stoppage time to spark wild scenes of jubilation in the East Midlands and set up a two-legged tie with Derby.
But the Rams won both games to secure a 6-2 aggregate victory and consign Albion to another season of Championship football, something which ultimately led Ulloa to the exit door.
Teams Ulloa Played for in Between
The Seagulls faced another summer of upheaval with Garcia resigning. It led to the appointment of Sami Hyypia ahead of the Finn’s ill-fated six-month spell in charge.
Ulloa’s departure to Leicester was confirmed shortly after Hyypia’s arrival, in what was then a club-record transfer for the Foxes and the highest transfer fee Brighton had ever received for a player.
That fee was believed to be in the region of £9 million, which looked like money well spent after the Argentine scored five times in his first five appearances for his new club. This included a goal on his debut in a 2-2 draw with Everton and a brace in a memorable 5-3 victory over Manchester United.
Ulloa played a key role in the club’s great escape from relegation that season, scoring four goals in the club’s final eight games to propel them from the foot of the table to a 14th-place finish.
No-one could predict what would happen next for Ulloa and Leicester. In arguably the greatest shock in modern-day football, Leicester went onto secure the 2015/16 Premier League title, with Ulloa finding the net six times in 29 league appearances.
A total of 22 of those appearances came from the bench, with arguably the most noteworthy of his goals coming in the form of a last-minute winner against Norwich City.
His final goals came in the form of a brace in a 4-0 win over Swansea City that April, as Claudio Ranieri’s side closed in on the most incredible achievement in the club’s history.
But the following campaign was a forgettable one for Ulloa and his career at Leicester began to slide downhill.
While his former club enjoyed an unforgettable 2016/17 campaign by winning promotion to the Premier League, the frontman had a comparatively poor season with the Foxes.
A lack of game time and a niggly injury limited his impact, meaning he only scored once in 24 appearances across all competitions.
Return to Brighton
The 2017/18 campaign saw little change for Ulloa and he had to wait until December 9 for his first Premier League appearance that season – coming on to play just a minute of a 3-2 win away at Newcastle United as a replacement for Jamie Vardy.
Ulloa was deemed surplus to requirements in the East Midlands and secured a return to the south coast in January 2018 on a loan deal that ran until the end of the season.
Brighton were facing a battle to stay in the Premier League and Chris Hughton brought him back to the Amex to boost his attacking options.
But while Ulloa’s impact in his first Brighton spell cannot be underestimated, it would be fair to say his second didn’t get anywhere near those highs.
In total, he managed 12 appearances across all competitions and scored two goals – the first of which came in a 3-1 FA Cup fifth-round victory over Coventry City before netting his only Premier League goal for the Seagulls in a 3-1 defeat at Manchester City once safety had been secured.
It proved to be his final appearance in an Albion shirt and a return to Leicester followed upon the expiration of his loan deal.
Despite expressing his desire to re-join Brighton permanently, this never transpired and Ulloa ended up spending a year in Mexico with CG Pachuca before returning to Spain and joining second-tier side Rayo Vallecano.
Even though Ulloa failed to recapture the magic from his first spell, no Albion fan will ever forget his telling contribution in his initial spell at the club.
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