The Best Footballers

Gaizka Mendieta Zabala (born 27 March 1974 in Bilbao) is a Spanish football player. He is a midfielder who currently plays for English club Middlesbrough in the FA Premier League. He has played 38 games and scored 10 goals for the Spanish national football team, and represented Spain at the international 1996 Summer Olympics, 2000 European Championship, and 2002 World Cup tournaments.

Mendieta started his club career with CD Castellón in 1991 and moved to Valencia CF in the top-flight La Liga championship a year later. He started his Valencia career in the reserve team, before making his first team debut on June 13, 1993. Mendieta played 34 of 42 games during the 1995-96 La Liga season, as Valencia finished runners-up, its best result since 1990. In the summer 1996, he was a part of the Spanish under-21 national team which ended runners-up at the 1996 European Under-21 Championship.

The 1997-98 La Liga season was Mendieta’s breakthrough season, under new Valencia coach Claudio Ranieri. Mendieta played 30 of 38 games, scoring 10 goals, and he made his debut for the Spanish national team against Austria on March 27, 1999. In June 1999, Mendieta won his first trophy with Valencia, beating Atlético de Madrid in the Copa del Rey tournament.

Under new manager Hector Cuper, Mendieta had an even better 1999-2000 season. He helped Valencia beat FC Barcelona 4-3 on aggregate to win the 1999 Supercopa de España, and by scoring 13 goals in 33 league games, Mendieta helped Valencia finish in third place. However, the biggest triumph of the season was helping Valencia reach the final of the international 1999-2000 UEFA Champions League tournament. Valencia lost the final 0-3 to Real Madrid, but Mendieta was later awarded “European Midfielder of the Season”. Mendieta was selected a part of the Spanish squad at the 2000 European Championship, helping Spain reach the quarter-finals of the tournament.Valencia reached the UEFA Champions League final again the following year, this time losing to Bayern Munich on penalty shoot-out. Mendieta was once more named “European Midfielder of the Season”. He was one of the most sought-after players, which led to a €48 million transfer to Italian club S.S. Lazio in 2001. Mendieta disappointed in Serie A, spending only a year with the Rome club. Despite his slump in form, he represented Spain at the 2002 World Cup. He was loaned out to FC Barcelona for the 2002-03 season, and then to Middlesbrough for the 2003-04 season. In his season at Middlesbrough FC, Mendieta was part of the team which won the 2004 Carling Cup, bringing Middlesbrough their first ever silverware. At the end of the season, the stay at Middlesbrough was made permanent.

In the last two years, a string of injuries and long duration of regaining match fitness relegated Mendieta to the substitutes bench. He is out of favour with current Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate and some of the Middlesbrough fans causing a divide within supporters. Reports suggested that Real Sociedad, Athletic Bilbao and Malaga CF were interesting in purchasing the midfielder in the January 2007 transfer window, however no concrete agreement was ever made. The 2007 summer transfer window passed amid speculation that Mendieta was set for a move to LA Galaxy, however towards the end of the transfer window, Mendieta was quoted to have said that he will fight for his place at Middlesbrough. A day later Middlesbrough F.C. Chief Executive Keith Lamb disregarded Mendieta’s comments saying that there was ‘no chance’ of Mendieta entering the first team. This has sparked concern over his treatment at Middlesbrough as he rarely features in the reserve team but continues to train with the senior squad.

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