José Enrique (footballer)

José Enrique

Personal information
Full name	José Enrique Sánchez Díaz
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s)	Left back
Team information
Current team	Liverpool
Number	3
Youth career
	Levante
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2004–2005	Levante B	19	(1)
2005–2006	Valencia	0	(0)
2005–2006	→ Celta Vigo (loan)	15	(0)
2006–2007	Villarreal	23	(0)
2007–2011	Newcastle United	119	(1)
2011–	Liverpool	23	(0)
International career‡
2001	Spain U16	2	(0)
2005	Spain U20	4	(0)
2006–2008	Spain U21	3	(1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 19 September 2011 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 15 July 2011

José Enrique Sánchez Díaz (born 23 January 1986), more commonly known as José Enrique, is a Spanish footballer who plays for Liverpool as a left defender.

Club career

Early career

José Enrique (nicknamed El Toro) started his footballing career at Levante before being snapped up by Valencia. Valencia sent him to Celta Vigo for a season-long loan spell. At the conclusion of this loan spell he was signed by Villarreal in 2006 after several eye-catching performances for Celta Vigo. The highly-rated full-back enjoyed a successful 2006/07 season with Villarreal before his transfer to England. From the age of 7 José Enrique was a keen athlete due to his blistering speed. He was a member of the Benimaclet running club in Valencia and was soon picked up as a hot prospect. When he turned 16 he had the difficult choice of making a career in sprinting and representing Spain in huge competitions such as the Olympics, or signing a youth scholarship with Levante.

Newcastle United

On 6 August 2007, it was confirmed that Newcastle United had signed José Enrique for a fee believed to be £6.3m. He signed a five-year contract with the club who beat off competition from Manchester City and Liverpool for his signature. Enrique made his Newcastle debut on 29 August, in a match against Barnsley in which he played the full 90 minutes. Newcastle won the match 2–0. While considered a warm up for Enrique, his recovery pace and calm nature on the ball bode well for his ability. He finally made his debut in the Premier League as a substitute against West Ham United on 23 September.

José Enrique preparing to take a throw-in.

His appearances for Newcastle across the 2007–08 season were somewhat sporadic, with then manager Sam Allardyce citing the fact that Enrique was still young and settling in to the Premier League as the reason for this. In the absence of any other recognised senior left backs midfielder Charles N'Zogbia was deployed in this position. When José Enrique did play, he showed a great deal of promise, proving to be a strong tackler who is adept at keeping possession. José Enrique is also admired for his ability to pick out team mates with long and very accurate passes, particularly off his favoured left foot. During his first season on Tyneside, he helped his side keep seven clean sheets out of the 28 games that he played.

After Newcastle's relegation in May 2009, the club had to sell a lot of its best players and numerous key defenders left including Habib Beye and Sebastien Bassong. The mass exodus, along with José Enrique's good form, has prompted several clubs to keep an eye on him, including Sunderland, although on 1 December in an interview with The Journal, when asked about a move to Sunderland, José Enrique said the following, "I don't care about Sunderland. Even if the newspapers said Chelsea I wouldn't care. I worry for my team – I love the city, I love the club and I don't care about signing for another team."

His performances were rewarded when he was made the official Newcastle United player of the season for 2009–10, voted for by the fans. He also achieved the accolade of being named in the PFA Championship Team of the Year alongside fellow Newcastle United players Fabricio Coloccini, Kevin Nolan and Andy Carroll.

José Enrique scored his first goal for the club in a 2–0 league win over promotion rivals Nottingham Forest on 29 March 2010. At the end of the 2010-11 season, he made 36 Premier League appearances in total for the Magpies.

Liverpool

On 11 August 2011 it was officially reported that Newcastle had agreed a £5m fee with Liverpool for José Enrique, allowing him to discuss personal terms and undergo a medical with the Merseyside club. It was officially announced the following day on Liverpool's website that José Enrique had joined the Merseyside club on a long term contract after passing a medical and agreeing personal terms.

On 13 August 2011, José Enrique made his debut in Liverpool's first game of the 2011–12 Premier League, starting at left back in a 1–1 draw against Sunderland. On 20 August 2011, Enrique made his second appearance and played the full 90 minutes in a 2–0 victory over Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, also being named man of the match. On 24 September, José Enrique provided the assist that helped Luis Suárez to score in the 2–1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers at Anfield. On 1 October, José Enrique appeared in his first Merseyside derby for Liverpool, making another assist for Andy Carroll in a 2–0 win for the Reds over rivals Everton.

On 2 October, it was announced that the player had been voted best summer signing by Liverpool fans with 74.5% of votes, ahead of the likes of Charlie Adam and Craig Bellamy.

On 23 December 2011, José Enrique was picked in ESPN.com's Premier League Best XI for the first half of the season.

Career statistics

Club

Template:Football player statistics 1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2004–05||Levante B||Segunda División B||19||1||0||0||0||0||0||0||19||1 |- |2005–06||Valencia||rowspan="3"|Primera División||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0 |- |2005–06||Celta Vigo (Loan)||15||0||3||0||0||0||0||0||18||0 |-; |2006–07||Villarreal||23||0||2||0||0||0||0||0||25||0 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2007–08||rowspan="4"|Newcastle United||rowspan="2"|Premier League||23||0||3||0||2||0||0||0||28||0 |- |2008–09||26||0||1||0||1||0||0||0||28||0 |- |2009–10 |rowspan="1"|Championship||34||1||2||0||1||0||0||0||37||1 |- |2010–11||rowspan="2"|Premier League||36||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||36||0 |- |2011–12||rowspan="1"|Liverpool|||22||0||1||0||2||0||0||0||25||0 Template:Football player statistics 357||1||5||0||0||0||0||0||62||1 Template:Football player statistics 3134||1||7||0||5||0||0||0||147||1 Template:Football player statistics 5187||2||11||0||4||0||0||0||205||2 Template:Football player statistics end

Stats accurate as of 26 October 2011

Honours

Club

Newcastle United

• Football League Championship (1): 2009–10
• Teresa Herrera Trophy: Winner: 2010

Individual

• PFA Championship Team of the Year (1): 2009–10

External links

• Jose Enrique at Soccerbase
• BDFutbol profile
• Transfermarkt profile
• Premier League profile
• José Enrique – FIFA competition record (archived)
• LFC History Profile