Mathieu Valbuena

Early career

Valbuena began his football career at hometown club ES Blanquefort. He developed an interest in the sport of football through his paternal heritage as he often attended matches at the Camp Nou in Barcelona during school holidays as a youth. At the age of nine, his football career was put on hold after he received over 50 stitches in one of his legs following a swimming accident. After the injury healed, Valbuena returned to football and quickly impressed club coaches. In 1998, he was given a Best Player award at a local youth tournament played at the Camp des Loges, the training center of professional club Paris Saint-Germain. In 2001, Valbuena was recruited by professional club FC Girondins de Bordeaux. Valbuena spent two years playing on the club's under-18 team playing alongside the likes of Rio Mavuba and Marouane Chamakh. Valbuena appeared in only three matches with the reserve team before being released from the club after failing to impress Jean-Louis Garcia, the reserve team manager. It has been commonly stated that Valbuena was let go by the club due to his small size; however, former club player and trainer Philippe Lucas explained that Valbuena was let go because he struggled to "transform his game from that of a young player to that of a professional" and that "his game needed to be faster and he needed to avoid confrontations".

Amateur career

After being let go by Bordeaux, Valbuena put his ambitions of becoming a professional…

Valbuena did not receive any call-ups to any of the France national youth football teams. However, following his impressive performances with Marseille, he was awarded a call up to the senior team by coach Raymond Domenech for the team's matches against England and Mali in March 2008. However, he picked up an injury and was forced to miss out. Valbuena's next call-up was over two years later in May 2010, when he was named to the 30-man preliminary list by Domenech to play in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Valbuena's call up was considered surprising by the media and the player himself, despite Valbuena playing well with his parent club who won the league and league cup double in the 2009–10 season. Many journalists in the French media compared Valbuena's call-up to the team with Franck Ribéry's call-up four years previously, as the two players share similarities in playing style and their circumstances at the time of their respective call-ups. Valbuena was later named to the 23-man team to compete in the competition. He made his national team debut on 26 May 2010 in a friendly match against Costa Rica appearing as a substitute in the second half. After 16 minutes on the field, Valbuena scored the game-winning goal in the team's 2–1 victory. At the World Cup, Valbuena made his debut in the competition in the team's 2–0 loss to Mexico appearing as a substitute on 17 June. It was his only appearance in the competition. During the competition, the players went on strike in protest…

Valbuena is described by his former coach at Libourne Saint-Seurin Didier Tholot as "an explosive player who is capable of quickly taking two opponents out of the game to create space, above all due to his dribbling skills." He has been deployed as a wide midfielder or winger since his arrival to the Bordeaux training center in 2001 often playing on the right side of midfield in former Bordeaux manager Elie Baup's preferred 4–3–3 formation. After leaving Bordeaux, Valbuena was primarily deployed in the playmaker position as an attacking midfielder at Langon Castets and Libourne Saint-Seurin. While at these clubs, he developed a penchant for attempting to do everything as stated by both his former club coaches Tholot and Jean-Pierre Léglise, the latter being his manager at Langon Castets. While at the amateur clubs, Valbuena also honed his quickness, technical ability, and developed his tenacious style of play which contributed to his positive work-rate defensively. Léglise once stated that "he had never worked with such a young person so technically brilliant" in his coaching career. Valbuena's former coach also described the player's tenacious style stating "Whatever the build of the opponent, he will always tackle" and "he also surprised me with the level of his defensive work when he is aligned on the right-hand side". Valbuena is also known for his small size and, while at Langon, began using his diminutive stature to his advantage. During his first season at Marseille,…

Valbuena was born in the southwestern commune of Bruges in the Gironde department to mother Brigitte and father Carlos. He is of Spanish origin through his father, who is originally from the city of Valladolid. Valbuena's father works for the city council of Bordeaux. Valbuena grew up in nearby Blanquefort where his parents still reside. On 24 December 2010, while traveling to Blanquefort to celebrate Christmas with his parents, Valbuena was involved in a car accident after losing control of his Lamborghini Murciélago while driving near Bègles. He survived the accident without any injuries.