Albert Luque
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Personal information | |||||||||||||||
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Full name | Albert Luque Martos | ||||||||||||||
Date of birth | 11 March 1978 | ||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Terrassa, Spain | ||||||||||||||
Height | Script error: No such module "person height". | ||||||||||||||
Position(s) | Winger / Striker | ||||||||||||||
Youth career | |||||||||||||||
1985–1991 | Can Parellada | ||||||||||||||
1991–1997 | Barcelona | ||||||||||||||
Senior career* | |||||||||||||||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||
1997–1999 | Mallorca B | 62 | (25) | ||||||||||||
1999–2002 | Mallorca | 67 | (24) | ||||||||||||
1999–2000 | → Málaga (loan) | 23 | (3) | ||||||||||||
2002–2005 | Deportivo La Coruña | 101 | (26) | ||||||||||||
2005–2007 | Newcastle | 21 | (1) | ||||||||||||
2007–2009 | Ajax | 16 | (4) | ||||||||||||
2008–2009 | → Málaga (loan) | 32 | (8) | ||||||||||||
2009–2011 | Málaga | 19 | (1) | ||||||||||||
Total | 341 | (92) | |||||||||||||
International career | |||||||||||||||
1998–2000 | Spain U21 | 13 | (3) | ||||||||||||
2000 | Spain U23 | 2 | (0) | ||||||||||||
2002–2005 | Spain | 17 | (2) | ||||||||||||
2002–2006 | Catalonia | 3 | (2) | ||||||||||||
Medal record
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*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
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Albert Luque Martos (born 11 March 1978) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a left winger or striker.
His 14-year professional career was mainly associated with Mallorca and Deportivo, and he amassed La Liga totals of 248 games and 61 goals over the course of eleven seasons. He also had brief spells in England with Newcastle United and the Netherlands with Ajax.
A Spanish international in the first half of the 2000s, Luque represented the nation in one World Cup and one European Championship.
Contents
Club career
Mallorca
Born in Terrassa, Barcelona, Catalonia, Luque was a lifelong supporter of FC Barcelona, and started out in football on trial with them, but was released by the C-team when he was still not aged 20. He was then taken by RCD Mallorca and immediately sent to its B-side, but eventually broke into the first team after a successful loan spell at Málaga CF.
In 2000–01 Luque scored nine goals for Mallorca, helping the Balearic Islands side qualify for the UEFA Champions League for the first time in the club's history, after finishing third. His extra time goal in the qualifying round against HNK Hajduk Split carried the side into the first group stage.[1]
Deportivo
Luque was transferred to Deportivo de La Coruña in 2002, in a deal worth €15 million (approximately £10 million), for strikers José Flores and Walter Pandiani (on loan). In his first season at Depor he scored the winning goal against former club Málaga with a bicycle kick, adding another La Liga winners against Athletic Bilbao, Racing de Santander and RCD Espanyol; he netted a total of 12 goals during the campaign, mostly from substitute appearances.
The 2003–04 season saw Luque's firm establishment as a Deportivo starter, as he scored the winner against Rosenborg BK in the Champions League qualifying round, the only goal in both legs. He also netted important goals in the competition against PSV Eindhoven, Juventus F.C. and A.C. Milan, adding 11 in his final year in Galicia.
Newcastle United
On 27 August 2005, Luque was sold to Newcastle United for a fee of £9 million, signing a five-year contract.[2] He made his debut against Manchester United at St James' Park, which included having a goal ruled out for offside. However, in his next game, he suffered a hamstring injury while playing against Fulham; upon his return he was used in a number of roles, including left midfielder, failing to live up to his large price tag.
On 17 April 2006 Luque scored his first goal for Newcastle in the Tyne–Wear derby, when he broke free from the Sunderland defence and chipped the ball over Kelvin Davis.[3] He commented after the game that he hoped to score before the end of the season, and thanked the team's physio for bringing him back to full fitness after injury; he played no part in the campaign's remaining fixtures, however.
Luque's first competitive home goal came against Lillestrom S.K. at the start of Newcastle's UEFA Intertoto Cup tournament –[4]– he added two against Liverpool's reserves in a 4–1 success in October. After having fallen low in the side's offensive pecking order, a number of injuries awarded him a start against Serie A table-toppers U.S. Città di Palermo on 2 November, in the UEFA Cup, and rewarded manager Glenn Roeder's choice scoring the game's only goal with a header.[5] Since then, however, the player had few significant first-team appearances, by now behind the likes of Matty Pattison, a reserve/first team fringe player; in the January 2007 transfer window he was even linked with a loan move to PSV, but the deal fell through, reportedly due to high wage demands.[6]
On 23 June 2007, new Magpies manager Sam Allardyce revealed that he would be willing to give Luque a proper chance to impress. However, this did not prevent him from awarding Luque's number 7 shirt to new signing Joey Barton, which initially left the Spaniard without a squad number.[7] He was eventually given the number 19 jersey he previously wore at Deportivo, and Titus Bramble at Newcastle.
His transfer from Deportivo to Newcastle is one of those about which the Stevens inquiry report in June 2007 expressed concerns:
"There remains inconsistencies in evidence provided by Graeme Souness – a former manager of the club"
"The inquiry still has unanswered questions relating to possible payments made by agent Francis Martin, who Newcastle officials believed was working for the selling club."[8] At the end of the next month, AFC Ajax agreed a fee to sign Luque.[9]
Ajax
On 25 August 2007, Ajax confirmed they had signed Luque until 2010.[10] On 30 September, he scored his first two goals for the Amsterdam outfit, turning the scoresheet in two minutes against VVV-Venlo in an eventual 6–1 home win, but coming out injured slightly afterwards.[11]
He was fined after a game against Feyenoord in November 2007 for a half-time altercation in the changing rooms with teammate Luis Suárez, which caused manager Adrie Koster to substitute them both before the second half.[12] It was reported on 14 July 2008 that Luque had no future at Ajax. Technical director Danny Blind told Sportweek: "Ajax has told Luque that he has to leave the club. I told Albert myself that we don't want to go on with him and if I've told it to him I really don't know who else I should inform."
Return to Málaga
Just before the 1 September transfer deadline of the 2008–09 season, Luque signed a one-year loan deal with Málaga, returning to the Andalusia outfit nine years later.[13] On 30 November 2008 he came from the bench to open his scoring account for the club in his second spell, in a 4–2 home win over CA Osasuna,[14] and was a crucial offensive element as the club fought for UEFA Cup qualification until the final days of the campaign.
On 30 July 2009, after lengthy negotiations, Málaga signed Luque from Ajax on a free transfer. Under new coach Juan Ramón López Muñiz, he played mainly from the bench and scored only once in the first half of the season, being then dropped out for almost one month; after returning to first-team action, he replaced Duda in the 84th minute of a 3–0 win at Racing Santander.
In 2010–11 Luque continued absent from Málaga's lineups, both under Jesualdo Ferreira and his successor Manuel Pellegrini. In December 2010 he was deemed surplus to requirements, alongside five other players,[15] being definitely released on 4 January 2011.[16]
International career
Luque represented Spain at the 2000 Summer Olympics, playing twice as the national team won silver in Sydney. After a successful season at Mallorca, still uncapped for the senior team, he was called up to the squad for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, making his international debut in a 3–2 group stage win against South Africa on 12 June 2002, and also appeared in the round-of-16 success against Republic of Ireland.
Two years later Luque played at UEFA Euro 2004, being used as a left winger in the 0–1 defeat to hosts Portugal. His last game was on 7 September 2005, in a 2006 World Cup qualifier against Serbia and Montenegro.
International goals
# | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | 9 October 2004 | El Sardinero, Santander, Spain | Belgium | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2006 World Cup qualification |
2. | 4 June 2005 | Mestalla, Valencia, Spain | Lithuania | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2006 World Cup qualification |
Honours
Club
- Mallorca
- Deportivo
- Newcastle
Country
- Spain U23
References
- ↑ Jugadores de ayer y de hoy: Albert Luque (Players of yesterday and today: Albert Luque); RCDM, 14 December 2010 (Spanish)
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- ↑ PSV pull out of Luque loan deal; BBC Sport, 13 January 2007
- ↑ Luque to get Toon lifeline; The Sun, 23 June 2007
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- ↑ Albert Luque ficha por el Málaga (Albert Luque signs with Málaga); Marca, 30 August 2008 (Spanish)
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- ↑ Málaga Club de Fútbol y Alberto Luque llegan a un acuerdo de rescisión (Málaga Club de Fútbol and Alberto Luque agree on rescision); Málaga's official website, 4 January 2011 (Spanish)
External links
- Albert Luque profile at BDFutbol
- National team data
- Albert Luque career statistics at Soccerbase
- Albert Luque at National-Football-Teams.comLua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
- Albert Luque – FIFA competition record
- Soccerway profile
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- Articles with Spanish-language external links
- Use dmy dates from April 2013
- Pages using infobox football biography with height issues
- 1978 births
- Living people
- People from Terrassa
- Spanish footballers
- Catalan footballers
- Association football wingers
- Association football forwards
- La Liga players
- Segunda División players
- Segunda División B players
- RCD Mallorca B players
- RCD Mallorca players
- Málaga CF players
- Deportivo de La Coruña players
- Premier League players
- Newcastle United F.C. players
- Eredivisie players
- AFC Ajax players
- Spain under-21 international footballers
- Spain under-23 international footballers
- Spain international footballers
- 2002 FIFA World Cup players
- UEFA Euro 2004 players
- Olympic footballers of Spain
- Olympic silver medalists for Spain
- Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics
- Olympic medalists in football
- Catalonia international footballers
- Spanish expatriate footballers
- Expatriate footballers in England
- Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands
- Spanish expatriates in England
- Spanish expatriates in the Netherlands