Juan Carlos Valerón

Juan Carlos Valerón

Personal information
Full name	Juan Carlos Valerón Santana
Date of birth	17 June 1975 (1975-06-17)
Place of birth	Arguineguín, Spain
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Deportivo La Coruña
Number	21
Youth career
	Arguineguín
	Las Palmas
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1994–1995	Las Palmas B	25	(7)
1995–1997	Las Palmas	54	(2)
1997–1998	Mallorca	36	(3)
1998–2000	Atlético Madrid	65	(7)
2000–	Deportivo La Coruña	272	(19)
National team
1997–1998	Spain U21	4	(0)
1997	Spain U23	4	(0)
1998–2005	Spain	46	(5)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19 December 2011. † Appearances (Goals).

This name uses Spanish naming customs; the first or paternal family name is Valerón and the second or maternal family name is Santana.

Juan Carlos Valerón Santana (born 17 June 1975 in Arguineguín, Gran Canaria) is a Spanish footballer who plays for Deportivo de La Coruña as an attacking midfielder.

Valerón is known for his technical abilities, especially passing skills and ball control. He also had many injuries during his professional career.

Valerón represented Spain in one World Cup and two European Championships, gaining nearly 50 caps.

Club career

Valerón started playing with hometown UD Las Palmas, but switched to the Balearic Islands in 1997–98, representing RCD Mallorca and making his La Liga debut on 31 August 1997, playing 10 minutes in a 2–1 home win over Valencia CF. He was an instrumental figure in the side's UEFA Cup qualification as fifth, as it also reached the Spanish Cup final, lost to eventual league winners FC Barcelona.

In the next two years, Valerón played with Atlético de Madrid where he was an undisputed starter but, following the club's relegation in 1999–2000, joined Deportivo de La Coruña, sharing club and position with equally talented Brazilian Djalminha. He gradually would become first-choice, signing a contract to eventually see off the remainder of his career with the Galicians in February 2004.

Since January 2006, however, Valerón also had a bad run with injuries. He suffered a knee injury which relapsed in August and early 2007 (with him only managing two league appearances in the process), leading to another surgery. Consequently he did not reappear until midway through 2007–08.

On 27 January 2008, Valerón returned to the bench (the first callup in 133 days) for Deportivo's game against Real Valladolid - in a 3–1 home win, replacing Mexican Andrés Guardado for the final 15 minutes. In the 2008–09 season, aged 33, he eventually became an important first-team fixture again, both in domestic and European fronts.

International career

A Spanish international since November 18, 1998 (Italy 2 – Spain 2), Valerón appeared with the national side at UEFA Euro 2000, the 2002 FIFA World Cup (where he netted in a 3–1 win over Slovenia) and Euro 2004, scoring immediately after coming from the bench in a 1–0 victory over Russia in the latter competition.

International goals

Juan Carlos Valerón: International goals

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	2002-06-02	Gwangju World Cup Stadium, Gwangju, South Korea	Slovenia	0–2	1–3	2002 FIFA World Cup
2	2002-09-07	Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece	Greece	0–2	0–2	Euro 2004 qualifying
3	2003-10-11	Hanrapetakan Stadium, Yerevan, Armenia	Armenia	0–1	0–4	Euro 2004 qualifying
4	2004-06-05	Coliseum Alfonso Pérez, Madrid, Spain	Andorra	4–0	4–0	Friendly
5	2004-06-12	Estádio Algarve, Faro, Portugal	Russia	1–0	1–0	UEFA Euro 2004

Honours

Deportivo

• Spanish Cup: 2001–02
• Spanish Supercup: 2000, 2002
• UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2008

Spain U21

• UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship: 1998

Statistics

Club

(correct as of 5 April 2010)

Club performance			League		Cup		Continental		Total
Season	Club	League	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Spain			League		Copa del Rey		Europe		Total
1994–95	Las Palmas B	Tercera División	25	7	-	-	-	-	25	7
1995–96	Las Palmas	Segunda División B	27	0	2	1	-	-	29	1
1996–97		Segunda División	27	2	1	0	-	-	28	2
1997–98	Mallorca	La Liga	36	3	11	1	-	-	47	4
1998–99	Atlético Madrid	La Liga	30	3	5	0	5	0	40	3
1999–00			35	4	6	0	6	0	47	4
2000–01	Deportivo	La Liga	31	4	2	0	8	0	41	4
2001–02			36	3	4	0	13	3	53	6
2002–03			23	2	1	0	5	0	29	2
2003–04			34	3	1	0	14	3	49	6
2004–05			38	1	1	0	8	0	47	1
2005–06			20	4	3	1	-	-	23	5
2006–07			2	0	1	0	-	-	3	0
2007–08			5	0	0	0	-	-	5	0
2008–09			22	0	2	0	8	0	32	0
2009–10			24	1	2	0	-	-	26	1
Total	Spain		413	37	42	3	67	6	522	46
Career total			413	37	42	3	67	6	522	46

International

Spain national team
Year	Apps	Goals
1998	1	0
1999	6	0
2000	7	0
2001	4	0
2002	9	2
2003	10	1
2004	8	2
2005	1	0
Total	46	5

Personal

Valerón's older brother, Miguel Ángel, is also a former footballer and a midfielder. Having represented Las Palmas and Mallorca B, his career was also curtailed by injuries.

External links

• Deportivo official profile (Spanish)
• BDFutbol profile
• National team data (Spanish)
• Juan Carlos Valerón at National-Football-Teams.com
• Juan Carlos Valerón – FIFA competition record
• Transfermarkt profile