Joseba Llorente
Llorente as a Villarreal player (2009)
Personal information
Full name Joseba Llorente Etxarri[1]
Date of birth (1979-11-24) 24 November 1979[1]
Place of birth Hondarribia, Spain
Height 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Position(s) Centre-forward
Youth career
Real Sociedad
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1998–2002 Real Sociedad B 64 (26)
1999–2004 Real Sociedad 23 (4)
2000Eibar (loan) 8 (4)
2003–2004Eibar (loan) 33 (4)
2004–2005 Eibar 38 (18)
2005–2008 Valladolid 99 (45)
2008–2010 Villarreal 61 (24)
2010–2013 Real Sociedad 35 (5)
2012–2013Osasuna (loan) 24 (1)
Total 385 (131)
International career
2004–2010 Basque Country 3 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Joseba Llorente Etxarri (born 24 November 1979) is a Spanish Basque retired professional footballer who played as a centre-forward.

He amassed La Liga totals of 179 games and 50 goals over ten seasons, representing in the competition Real Sociedad, Valladolid, Villarreal and Osasuna. He added 142 matches and 55 goals in the Segunda División, mainly in service of Eibar.[2]

Club career

Born in Hondarribia, Basque Country, Llorente came through the ranks of Real Sociedad,[2] making his debut for the first team on 3 October 1999 against Real Zaragoza (2–0 away loss). He would however, only total 23 appearances in four seasons, and left in 2003 for another club in his native region, SD Eibar of Segunda División,[3] where he already had served a loan stint early into the 2000–01 campaign.[4]

For 2005–06, Llorente signed for Real Valladolid also in that tier, and scored 12 league goals in his debut campaign. He added 17 the following year to help the team to achieve promotion as champions.[5]

On 20 January 2008, in a match against RCD Espanyol, Llorente broke the Spanish league record for the fastest goal ever scored (7.22 seconds),[6][7] beating Dario Silva's previous record at 8. He broke through that season aged almost 29, netting 16 times to help them to retain top-flight status, including a hat-trick against Recreativo de Huelva on the 13th.[8]

Llorente agreed a four-year deal with Villarreal CF on 26 May 2008, for an undisclosed fee.[9] He scored his first goal for the club in a 2–1 win at CD Numancia on 21 September.[10] Exactly one month later, he put three past AaB Football in a UEFA Champions League 6–3 home victory.[11]

On 10 March 2009, after just minutes on the pitch, Llorente scored the winner in a 2–1 away defeat of Panathinaikos F.C. in the Champions League quarter-finals' second leg (3–2 aggregate).[12] His first season at Villarreal was highly productive as he scored a squad-best 15 league goals,[13] including two at FC Barcelona in a 3–3 draw on 10 May, postponing the Catalans' title-winning celebrations for a further week.[14]

On 16 June 2010, after another good year with the Valencians, Llorente rejoined Real Sociedad – recently returned to the top tier – penning a four-year contract worth 2.5 million.[15] In his competitive debut, on 29 August, he assisted Xabi Prieto with a backheel for the game's only goal, at home against his former side Villarreal;[16] in mid-January 2011, however, after suffering a back injury, he was sidelined for the remainder of the season.[17]

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[18][19][20]
Club Season League Copa del Rey Continental Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Real Sociedad 1999–00 La Liga 811091
2000–01 920092
2001–02 400040
2002–03 2121
Total 2341000244
Real Sociedad B 2001–02 Segunda División B 102102
Eibar (loan) 2000–01 Segunda División 840084
Eibar (loan) 2003–04 Segunda División 33410344
Eibar 2004–05 Segunda División 3818103918
Valladolid 2005–06 Segunda División 3612103712
2006–07 2717513218
2007–08 La Liga 3616313917
Total 9945920010847
Villarreal 2008–09 La Liga 321510744019
2009–10 29930814010
Total 6124401558029
Real Sociedad 2010–11 La Liga 18520205
2011–12 17030200
Total 3555000405
Osasuna (loan) 2012–13 La Liga 24132273
Career total 331107244155370116

Honours

Valladolid

References

  1. 1 2 3 Joseba Llorente at AS.com (in Spanish)
  2. 1 2 "Joseba Llorente: "La Real me lo ha dado todo"" [Joseba Llorente: "Real has given me everything"]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 9 October 2013. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  3. Lorenzo, José Luis (3 September 2003). ""Necesitaba minutos y poder disputar algo todos los domingos"" ["I needed to have minutes and play for something every Sunday"]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  4. Imedio, Óscar (24 January 2001). "Piensan encadenar la tercera victoria" [Thinking of third win in a row]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  5. Gómez, Letizia (14 March 2019). "El Valladolid añora a Joseba Llorente, 'El castas'" [Valladolid yearning Joseba Llorente, 'The spunk']. El Diario Vasco (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  6. Rivera, Almudena (20 January 2008). "Llorente marca el gol más rápido de la historia de la Liga" [Llorente scores fastest goal in League history]. Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 January 2008.
  7. Wright, Chris (21 December 2020). "Quickfire! McTominay, Leao set new standards among football's fastest goals". ESPN. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  8. "Valladolid 3–1 Recreativo Huelva". ESPN Soccernet. 13 January 2008. Archived from the original on 2 November 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2011.
  9. "Villarreal lure Llorente from Valladolid". UEFA. 26 May 2008. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  10. García, José (22 September 2008). "La pegada del Villarreal desinfla al Numancia (1–2)" [Villarreal pace deflates Numancia (1–2)]. La Verdad (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  11. Hunter, Graham (21 October 2008). "Llorente treble caps Villarreal goalfest". UEFA. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  12. Wood, Graham (10 March 2009). "Clinical Villarreal put paid to Panathinaikos". UEFA. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  13. "Llorente se despide del Valladolid a la espera de firmar por el Villarreal" [Llorente says goodbye to Valladolid waiting to sign for Villarreal]. 20 minutos (in Spanish). 23 May 2008. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  14. Steinberg, Jacob (10 May 2009). "Villarreal cancel Barcelona's title celebrations with last gasp equaliser". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  15. Badallo, Óscar (16 June 2010). "Joseba Llorente y Paco Sutil son los primeros fichajes para Primera" [Joseba Llorente and Paco Sutil are the first signings for Primera]. Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 June 2010.
  16. "Sociedad make winning return". ESPN Soccernet. 29 August 2010. Archived from the original on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
  17. Scime, Adam (25 January 2011). "Real Sociedad striker Joseba Llorente out for the rest of the season". Goal. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
  18. Joseba Llorente at BDFutbol
  19. Joseba Llorente at Soccerway
  20. Joseba Llorente at FBref.com
  21. "El Valladolid, campeón de Segunda División" [Valladolid, Segunda División champions]. El Mundo (in Spanish). 10 June 2007. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
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