|
Biography |
José Antonio Reyes Calderón (born September 1, 1983 in
Utrera, Seville) is a Spanish footballer who currently plays
for Real Madrid on loan from English club Arsenal. Reyes has
represented the Spanish national team in 20 matches, scoring
4 goals.
Reyes joined the youth ranks of Seville club Sevilla FC at
the age of 10. His talent was identified at an early age,
and he represented the club at all youth levels. He finally
signed a full contract in 1999 at the age of 15. Reyes made
his senior debut at the age of 16 as a substitute in a game
against Real Zaragoza, and he was later called up to Spain's
under-17 youth national team for the Under-17 European
Championships.
Reyes established his reputation as a versatile forward,
playing either as a left winger or a support striker. He is
a good passer and has strong dribbling skills. His 22 goals
in 86 matches, over four seasons at Sevilla led to other
clubs taking notice, but Reyes' popularity with the club's
fans made a move to a bigger Spanish club politically
difficult for Sevilla FC's club president.
Despite Sevilla manager Joaquín Caparrós wishing to hang
onto him, Reyes signed with English club Arsenal FC during
the January transfer window of the 2003-04 season. The £9m
fee was negotiated with top ups, depending on the success of
Arsenal, which could rise to £17m.
He made his debut on February 1, 2004 in a 2-1 win over
Manchester City. Two days later he scored an own goal
against Middlesbrough in the Carling Cup. Later that month,
Reyes scored twice against Chelsea to knock them out of the
FA Cup. He also scored against Chelsea in the UEFA Champions
League quarterfinal, and his goals in the penultimate two
games of the season helped keep Arsenal's unbeaten run in
the FA Premier League going.
Hat tricks in friendlies during the summer 2004 showed his
improvement and Reyes was a prominent influence on Arsenal's
impressive start to the 2004-05 season, in which he managed
to score in each of the first six games. However, Reyes
struggled during the middle of the season after Arsenal's
defeat by Manchester United at Old Trafford, where he was
perceived to be cynically kicked out of the game by Gary
Neville. His inconsistent performance brought little reward
for much of the season, and yet towards the end of this
season he scored three valuable goals.
In early 2005 he was reported to be homesick while at
Arsenal, even though José's parents Mari and Francisco as
well as brother Jesús lived with him in England. During a
prank call perpetrated by COPE Radio of Spain in February
2005, a prankster claiming to be the president of Spanish
club Real Madrid reportedly called Reyes' agent and spoke to
Reyes himself about a possible transfer deal. In the ensuing
conversation, Reyes allegedly declared that life in London
was far from what he had envisioned and he would not
discount a welcoming move back to his native Spain to play
for the team. Reyes also supposedly said that he wanted out
of the club as there were "bad people" at Arsenal.
On May 21, 2005, Reyes became the only second player in
history (after Kevin Moran) to be sent off in an FA Cup
final, when he was dismissed for a second yellow card. Reyes
continued in a similar vein in the 2005-06 season, but has
generally received praise for his gradually improving
performances.
He temporarily ended speculation about a move away from
Highbury in July 2005, when he signed a new six-year
contract and declared that he was "looking forward to having
many more successful years at the club."
In Arsenal's 2005-06 UEFA Champions League run, Reyes
featured heavily against, among others, Real Madrid,
Juventus FC and Villarreal CF, in the most impressive
Champions League results for Arsenal to date. He came on as
a substitute in the May 17, 2006 final against Spanish
champions F.C. Barcelona, which Arsenal lost 2-1. However,
in August 2006 he expressed a desire not to play in
Arsenal's 2006-07 Champions League qualifying match against
Dynamo Zagreb - to do so would render him 'cup-tied' and
complicate a move to Real Madrid. Wenger left him out of the
team, thus fuelling speculation that Reyes could be on his
way to Real Madrid.
Reyes was linked to Real Madrid along with Arsenal teammate
Cesc Fàbregas in the summer of 2006, when the candidate
Arturo Baldasano of the then on-going Real Madrid
presidential campaign claimed he would sign them, if
elected. Reyes further hinted towards a transfer to Real
Madrid. After making two official statements on Arsenal's
website denying media reports of being unhappy, alleged
quotes from Reyes in the Spanish press contradicted his
denials. This tested the patience of Arsène Wenger, who
reacted angrily to Real Madrid's attempts to unsettle his
player, suggesting that it was not the first time Real
Madrid had used the media and agents in Spain as a
destabilising tactic to unsettle players contracted to rival
clubs. Atlético Madrid made an opening bid estimated at
£8.1million for Jose Reyes, which Wenger deemed "an insult"
to Arsenal. After increasing their bid, it seemed likely
that Reyes would join Atlético Madrid before the end of the
transfer period, but reports then surfaced of a swap deal
between Arsenal and Real Madrid, with Reyes heading to the
Bernabeu and Brazilian forward Julio Baptista moving to
London. The loan is only for one year with an option for
Madrid to buy after one year.
On August 31, 2006 it was announced that a deal had been
reached and that the transfer of Jose Antonio Reyes to Real
Madrid had been completed, with Julio Baptista moving to
Arsenal. He scored his first goal with Real Madrid on
September 17, 2006 on a free kick against Real Sociedad.
Reyes earned his first full cap in September 2003 against
Portugal. However, he was left out of Iñaki Sáez's 2004
European Championship squad. Although Reyes has been picked
consistently in national team squads, he has only 20 caps
and 4 goals. He is not a regular starter, due to current
national team coach Luis Aragonés' preference to play
Fernando Torres, David Villa, and Luis García up front. Most
recently, Reyes played in the 2006 FIFA World Cup game
against Saudi Arabia. |
|
