Juan Valerón

Juan Carlos Valerón Santana, Valerón (born 17 June 1975 in Arguineguin, Gran Canaria), is a Spain football (soccer) who plays as an attacking midfielder, currently for Deportivo de La Coruña.

Valerón is an exemplary player noted for his outstanding character, and alongside players like Raúl González is regarded as a role model, rightfully combining temperament and passion. On the field, he is known for his technical abilities, especially his superb passing skills and ball control.

Club career

Valerón started playing with hometown UD Las Palmas, but switched to the Baleares in 1997-98, representing RCD Mallorca and debuting in the La Liga.

From 1998-2000, Valerón played with Atlético Madrid but, following the club's relegation in La Liga 1999-00, he joined Deportivo de La Coruña, sharing club and position with equally talented Brazilian Djalminha. He gradually would become first-choice.

Since January 2006, however, Valerón also had a bad run with injuries. He suffered a anterior cruciate ligament injury which relapsed in August and in early 2007 (with two league appearances), leading to another surgery. Consequently he did not reappear until midway through La Liga 2007-08.

On January 27, 2008, Valerón returned to the bench (the first callup in 133 days) for Deportivo's game against Real Valladolid - in a 3-1 home win, replacing Mexico Andrés Guardado for the final 15 minutes.

International career

A Spain national football team since November 18, 1998 (Italy national football team 4 - Spain 1), Valerón appeared with the national side at 2000 European Football Championship, the Football World Cup 2002 (where he netted in a 3-1 win over Slovenia national football team) and 2004 European Football Championship, scoring immediately after coming substitute (football) in a 1-0 success against Russia national football team.