Borja Valero

Real Madrid

Valero was born in Madrid, and began his football career as a youngster in the ranks of Real Madrid. He made his first appearance for the reserve side in the Segunda División B as a second-half substitute, took part in the playoffs to earn promotion then spent two full seasons with them in the Segunda División. Valero played only twice for the first team: given his debut by Fabio Capello against Écija on 25 October 2006, replacing Javi García after 60 minutes of a match in the Copa del Rey, he also featured once in the UEFA Champions League, substituting Miguel Ángel Nieto in a 2–2 away draw with Dynamo Kyiv in the group stage.

Mallorca

In August 2007, Valero signed a five-year contract with Mallorca following his release from Real Madrid. He scored his first La Liga goals in a 7–1 home win over Recreativo de Huelva on 9 March 2008, and added another a month later, against his former team in a 1–1 home draw. Valero scored the first goal on 11 May 2008, as his side came back from 2–0 down to beat Barcelona in Frank Rijkaard's last home game as the latter's manager. He made 17 starts and played a total of 1,892 minutes during the season, helping to a seventh-place finish. In mid-August 2008, Mallorca's president stated that he had rejected bids from West Bromwich Albion for Valero and Óscar Trejo, but a week later, the former signed for the latter – newly promoted to the Premier League – for a club record fee of €7 million (£4.7 million). He…

Valero represented the Spain under-19 team at the 2004 UEFA European Championship. In the final against Turkey he entered the match as an 85th-minute substitute and, two minutes into stoppage time, scored the only goal of the game. On 4 June 2011, Valero made his debut for the full side, against the United States in Foxborough, Massachusetts. He replaced David Silva in the second half, and assisted Fernando Torres in the last goal.

Primarily a central midfielder, Valero is best known for his positional sense, vision, technique and passing ability, as well as his leadership, despite his lack of pace. He is also capable of playing as a deep-lying playmaker in front of the defence, as an attacking midfielder or even as an offensive-minded central midfielder, known as the "mezzala" role in Italian football jargon.

Club

International