Cyle Larin will look to take La Liga by storm in his first full season in Spain, but don’t necessarily expect that to happen immediately.

The Canadian striker played 30 minutes from the bench on his Real Mallorca debut in their 1-1 draw at Las Palmas last weekend, but is still not fit enough to be in consideration to start a game for his new team.

Larin suffered a muscle injury while playing for Canada at the CONCACAF Nations League last June and sat out the subsequent Gold Cup campaign partly as a result.

According to Diario de Mallorca, Larin is not close to being fit enough to play a major role for Los Piratas in the early weeks of the season. Larin stayed in Jamaica on vacation for a month during the summer and did not take part in any team training. He is apparently still not in the same physical condition.

Mallorca’s head coach Javier Aguirre said last week after the Las Palmas game that “I last saw Larin play in the CONCACAF Nations League. He later went to Jamaica and was not training with the ball, just physical work. Physically I think he is not there for 90 minutes. I dare to make it public and I already told him.”

Aguirre added: “It’s a shame because the boy tries. He has spent 30 days doing nothing in his country and it shows. I hope that the sooner he can catch up with the others, it is difficult for us to get him into rhythm.”

Larin is the second-most-expensive Mallorca signing of all time, having joined the Balearic club in a deal worth an initial €7.5 million ($11 million CAD) and which could rise to €8.2 million ($12 million CAD) based on his performance and related bonuses. That would make him the club’s all-time record transfer.

They will hope he gets up to speed quickly so that he can be in contention to start alongside their prolific frontman Vedat Muqiri.

However, Aguirre, Mallorca, and Canadian onlookers can rest assured that even if he is not deemed ready to start, Larin knows the role of impact substitute well from his time in Valladolid. There, after signing on loan from Club Brugge in January, he scored in each of his first two substitute appearances, both goals late game-winners. Those were the first two of his eventual eight goals in 19 La Liga games, as he was promoted to starting striker after that explosive impact and never looked back.

A similar cameo this week would go a long way to endearing himself to Aguirre and Mallorca fans.

Mallorca host Villarreal in their first home game of the 2023-24 La Liga season on Friday afternoon ET.