Marc Muniesa

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Marc Muniesa
File:Marc Muniesa.jpg
Muniesa with the Spain U21s in 2010
Personal information
Full name Marc Muniesa Martínez[1]
Date of birth (1992-03-27) 27 March 1992 (age 32)
Place of birth Lloret de Mar, Spain
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Position(s) Defender
Team information
Current team
Stoke City
Number 5
Youth career
Lloret
2002–2009 Barcelona
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2009–2013 Barcelona B 79 (4)
2009–2013 Barcelona 2 (0)
2013– Stoke City 47 (0)
International career
2008 Spain U16 2 (0)
2009 Spain U17 10 (0)
2010–2011 Spain U19 9 (0)
2011–2014 Spain U21 9 (0)
2011– Catalonia 1 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 18:22, 30 April 2016 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 14 October 2014

Marc Mube Muniesa (born 27 March 1992) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for English club Stoke City. Mainly a central defender, he can also play as a left back.

Muniesa began his career with Barcelona, making his debut at the end of the 2008–09 season at the age of 17. Muniesa then played for Barcelona B, helping them to win promotion to the Segunda División in 2009–10. He was on the verge of breaking into the first team in 2012–13 but suffered a torn knee ligament in pre-season and missed most of the season. In July 2013 he joined English side Stoke City on a free transfer.

Muniesa gained 26 caps for Spain at youth level, including five for the under-21 side with which he won the 2013 European Championship.

Club career

Barcelona

Born in Lloret de Mar, Girona, Catalonia, when Muniesa was only 15 years old there were already transfer rumours that Chelsea wanted to sign him.[3] At the La Masia youth academy he developed quickly, and was ready to appear for FC Barcelona's first team at the age of 17.[4]

Muniesa made his debut for Barça's first team aged 17 years and 57 days on 23 May 2009, as a substitute in a 1–0 La Liga home loss against CA Osasuna for the already crowned league champions. This appearance made him the second youngest player ever to feature for Barcelona, but he only played a few minutes, being sent off after a challenge on an opponent;[5] the following Wednesday, he was named amongst the substitutes for the 2009 Champions League Final against Manchester United.

Muniesa and four other FC Barcelona B players were promoted to the first team for the 2009–10 pre-season, but he appeared almost exclusively for the B's in Segunda División B, contributing with 19 games and one goal as the team returned to Segunda División after 11 years. In 2010–11 Muniesa played 25 times for Barcelona B as they finished in 3rd position in Spain's second tier. In 2011–12 he made three substitute appearances for the first team, one in the league against Getafe CF and two in the UEFA Champions League, against FC BATE Borisov and Bayer 04 Leverkusen;[6][7] he added 24 matches with the reserves, helping them to the eighth position in the table.

On 15 February 2011 Muniesa signed a new contract with Barcelona, extending his link with the club by another year and raising his buyout clause to €30 million.[8] On 4 April of the following year the Blaugrana announced that the player had signed an extension to his contract, also being promoted to the main squad for the 2012–13 season.[9]

On 24 July 2012, in Barcelona's first pre-season friendly, against Hamburger SV, Muniesa suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, going on to miss six months.[10] Prior to suffering his injury Muniesa was wanted on loan by Dutch club Ajax.[11]

Stoke City

On 2 July 2013 Muniesa joined Premier League club Stoke City on a free transfer, signing a four-year contract.[12][13] Following his move to England he stated — “I never imagined I would get the chance to play in the Premier League, but when Stoke called me I decided to come here with my family to speak to them. All the people I’ve spoken have shown a lot of confidence in me and I’m really happy that everything has been sorted. It wasn't a big decision for me to make. I came to England yesterday to meet the people at the club and look around the training ground, which is very impressive".[14][15] He made his debut for Stoke in a 3–1 victory over Walsall in the League Cup on 31 August 2013.[16] He made his first start in the Premier League on 30 November 2013 against Everton at Goodison Park.[17] Muniesa played 17 times for the club in 2013–14 as Stoke finished the season in 9th position.[18] Throughout the campaign manager Mark Hughes mainly used Muniesa as back-up to Erik Pieters.[19]

Muniesa scored his first goals in English football on 23 September 2014, scoring both goals in a 2–1 League Cup third round victory over Sunderland.[20] In December 2014 Munisea began playing alongside Ryan Shawcross at centre-back due to injury to Marc Wilson.[21] He helped Stoke keep back-to-back clean sheets in victories over Everton and West Bromwich Albion.[22][23] Muniesa remained a regular in Mark Hughes' team before he suffered a hamstring injury in February 2015 which ruled him out for six weeks.[24] Muniesa recovered to play in the final few matches of the season, in total he played 22 times for Stoke in 2014–15 as the Potters finished in 9th position for a second season running and they ended the campaign with a 6–1 victory against Liverpool.[25][26]

On 7 August 2015 Muniesa signed a new contract with Stoke keeping him at the club until the summer of 2019.[27] He had his attempt saved by Simon Mignolet as Stoke lost in a penalty shootout to Liverpool, missing out on the 2016 Football League Cup Final.[28] His season was disrupted by injury, playing in 17 matches as Stoke again finished in 9th position.[29][30]

International career

Muniesa played in all of Spain's youth teams from under-16s to under 21s. During that time he has been members of the squads which won the 2013 European Under-21 Championship and achieved a third-place finish at the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup.[31][32]

Style of play

Muniesa is a defender and has played at centre back and left back and can also play as a defensive midfielder but states that his preferred position is at centre back.[15] "My favourite position is central defender. I can also play at left back or in midfield but I feel better when I play centre back".[15]

Career statistics

As of match played 30 April 2016[33][34]
Club Season League Cup League Cup Europe Other[A] Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Barcelona B 2009–10[34] Segunda División B 19 1 2 0 21 1
2010–11[35] Segunda División 25 2 25 2
2011–12[36] Segunda División 24 1 24 1
2012–13[37] Segunda División 11 0 11 0
Total 79 4 2 0 81 4
Barcelona 2008–09[34] La Liga 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
2009–10[34] La Liga 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2010–11[35] La Liga 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2011–12[36] La Liga 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 3 0
2012–13[37] La Liga 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 4 0
Stoke City 2013–14[38] Premier League 13 0 1 0 3 0 17 0
2014–15[25] Premier League 19 0 1 0 2 2 22 2
2015–16[30] Premier League 15 0 0 0 2 0 17 0
Total 47 0 2 0 7 2 0 0 0 0 56 2
Career total 128 4 2 0 7 2 2 0 2 0 141 6

Honours

Club

Barcelona[34]
Barcelona B[34]

International

Spain U21[34]
Spain U17[34]

References

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  3. Premiership interest in Marc Muniesa and Willy Caballero; La Liga Review, 25 February 2008
  4. Barcelona starlet Muniesa reflects on manic debut; Goal.com, 24 May 2009
  5. Muniesa given Barcelona support after bittersweet debut; Goal.com, 24 May 2009
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  8. Muniesa renueva hasta el 2012 (Muniesa renews until 2012); Barcelona's official website, 15 February 2011 (Spanish)
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  10. Marc Muniesa out for six months; Barcelona's official website, 25 July 2012
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External links