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Antonio Valencia
 |
| Personal information |
| Full name |
Luis Antonio Valencia Mosquera |
| Date of birth |
4 August 1985 (1985-08-04) (age 23) |
| Place of birth |
Lago Agrio, Ecuador |
| Height |
1.81 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)[1] |
| Playing position |
Winger |
| Club information |
| Current club |
Manchester United |
| Youth career |
| 1999–2001 |
Caribe Junior |
| 2001–2004 |
El Nacional |
| Senior career1 |
| Years |
Club |
Apps (Gls)2 |
|
| 2003–2005 |
El Nacional |
84 (20) |
|
| 2005–2008 |
Villarreal |
02 0(0) |
|
| 2005–2006 |
→ Recreativo (loan) |
14 0(1) |
|
| 2006–2008 |
→ Wigan Athletic (loan) |
36 0(1) |
|
| 2008–2009 |
Wigan Athletic |
47 0(6) |
|
| 2009– |
Manchester United |
00 0(0) |
|
| National team3 |
| 2005– |
Ecuador |
38 0(4) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20:05, 30 June 2009 (UTC).
2 Appearances (Goals).
3 National team caps and goals correct as of 16 March 2008 |
Luis Antonio Valencia Mosquera (born 4 August 1985), commonly known as Antonio Valencia, is an Ecuadorian football winger, who currently plays for Manchester United.[2] He also plays for the Ecuadorian national team.
[edit] Career
[edit] Club career
[edit] Early career
Valencia started his career at El Nacional, and moved to the Spanish league team Villarreal in 2005.[3] However, he was loaned to Recreativo de Huelva for most of the 2005–06 season.[4]
[edit] Wigan Athletic
At the beginning of the next season, he joined English Premier League club Wigan Athletic, initially on a year long loan deal. He made his debut for Wigan on 19 August 2006, in a 2–1 loss to Newcastle United, and scored his first goal for them against Manchester City on 21 October 2006.The loan was extended into the following season, and on 18 January 2008 he transferred for an undisclosed fee, signing a three and a half year contract. In early June 2009, the Wigan chairman announced that he would not force Valencia to stay at the club.[5][6][7]
[edit] Manchester United
On 30 June 2009, Valencia became Manchester United's first summer signing, having cut his holiday short to have a medical with the club. He has signed a four-year contract for an undisclosed fee, rumoured to be in the region of £16 million.[8]
[edit] International career
Valencia's first international cap was in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Paraguay on 27 March 2005, scoring twice in a 5–2 win for Ecuador. He played in Ecuador's 2006 FIFA World Cup finals matches, and was chosen as a nominee for FIFA's ideal 11 team, which recognises the top stars for every position in the World Cup. He was also shortlisted as one of the six potential candidates for the Gillette Best Young Player award.[9] An email broadly circulated in England encouraged votes for Valencia, in an attempt to prevent Cristiano Ronaldo from winning (propelled into pole by a similar campaign in Scotland).[10] Lukas Podolski eventually won the award even though the final results of the official poll conducted at the 2006 FIFA World Cup site gave Valencia the lead.
[edit] Honours
- El Nacional
[edit] References
[edit] External links
