Gaizka Mendieta

Gaizka Mendieta
Personal information
Full name	Gaizka Mendieta Zabala
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Middlesbrough
Number	6
	‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 30 August 2006

Gaizka Mendieta Zabala (born March 27, 1974 in Bilbao) is a Spanish midfielder who currently plays for Middlesbrough of the English Premiership.

Mendieta, born in the Basque Country, started his club career with Castellón in 1991 and moved to Valencia a year later. He became one of the most sought-after players in Europe after leading his club to two consecutive Champions League finals in 2000 and 2001. That led to a €43 million transfer to Lazio in 2001, but Mendieta disappointed in Serie A, spending only a year with the Rome club. He was loaned out to Barcelona for the 2002-03 season, and then to Middlesbrough for 2003-04. The latter move was later made permanent. For Spain, Mendieta has been capped 40 times (as of 2005), scoring eight goals. He played for his country at Euro 2000 and the 2002 World Cup.

As a Middlesbrough player, Mendieta was part of the team that won the 2004 Carling Cup, the club's first ever major trophy. In the last two years, a string of injuries and negative first-team performances have relegated Mendieta to the substitutes bench. He is out of favor with current Middlesborough boss Gareth Southgate, and reports link him to a January 2007 move back to Spain, perhaps returning to his old club Athletic Bilbao.

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