Let's welcome...

[johnly]

Heres the link from Sky Sports

http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hlid=444972&CPID=8&clid=14&lid=4161&title=Rafa+to+raid+Depor+for+defender

Gotta say I've not seen him play before so know nowt about the lad, but hey In Rafa we trust. I'm sure he's decent

Like its been said already, anything is better than Josemi

[Jayesh87]

My gave me the following info on him:

[bazza76]

Even if he's in a wheel chair he'd be a better player than Josemi.

I cant for the life of me figure out what happened to Josemi.
I thought he looked great when he first signed, had a real appetite for Liverpool, so much so, Carra was even calling him an animal (compliment).
All of a sudden, he drew a blank. Is it possible he could have been looking to leave as he couldnt adjust to life on Merseyside?.

[kurtangle01]

My gave me the following info on him:

That confirms it then...He's ****!

[Maestro]

I cant for the life of me figure out what happened to Josemi.
I thought he looked great when he first signed, had a real appetite for Liverpool, so much so, Carra was even calling him an animal (compliment).
All of a sudden, he drew a blank. Is it possible he could have been looking to leave as he couldnt adjust to life on Merseyside?.

He never settled. Apparently he found it very hard to adapt to life in England.

[Rich]

Not enough Tapas

[desertscouser]

He never settled. Apparently he found it very hard to adapt to life in England.

I'm not surprised. If I continuously got skinned and/or made errors costing my new side a goal every week I'd want to go home too.

I have zero sympathy for Josemi. It's safe to say I couldn't stand him.

[Tee]

I'm not surprised. If I continuously got skinned and/or made errors costing my new side a goal every week I'd want to go home too.

I have zero sympathy for Josemi. It's safe to say I couldn't stand him.

In particular there was a game v Portsmouth at Anfield where he was absolutely awful.. truly the worst defending since Piechnik.

To his credit he looks a better player at Villareal.

[Neil Young]

Didn't Barragan go to Depor so who has been first choice right back this season?

[Bob]

My gave me the following info on him:

Similar stats to Dudek.

[GordonGecko]

former real madrid youth captain ballague on ssn now talking bout him.
tell you what this one came right out of left field,not a soul saw this one coming

"Join The Gold Club"

[friedk]

I think it is safe to say that Rafa to date will not be remembered for his purchase of Right Backs.

[PLY]

Didn't Barragan go to Depor so who has been first choice right back this season?

I think this lad's been playing Centre Half

[Maestro]

Didn't Barragan go to Depor so who has been first choice right back this season?

Well according to Soccernet, Barragan has played 10 La Liga games, whereas Arbeloa has played 20.
I don't know in what position either have been playing in - maybe Arbeloa has primarily played at centre-back?

[rushscored4]

"During the rebuilding and rejuvenation of the squad in the summer of 2006, the final gaps to be filled were the position of a defender capable to play in the centre & at the left and a goalkeeper. With only Capdevila available to play at the left defensive side, Deportivo president Lendoiro decided to make use of the problems ARBELOA had at his club Real Madrid. With the arrival of Italian coach Fabio Capello, another era of star signings and veterans had arrived without much options for young Spanish talents. For Arbeloa it wasn’t a difficult choice when the Galicians knocked on his door, despite interest of Zaragoza and Espanyol.

Before Arbeloa ended up in La Coruña he already had seen much of Spain during the 23 years of his life until then. He was born in Salamanca in 1983 and one year later his family moved to Valladolid due to Arbeloa’s father’s work. Later, when young Arbeloa was four years old, the family moved to Zaragoza and two years later he started to play football in the local team of Jesús María El Salvador. Aged twelve he signed at Real Zaragoza and spent six years in their youth system. But Arbeloa wanted to combine study (Business Administration) with football and decided that the best thing to do was to move to another city: Madrid.

Aged eighteen he joined Real Madrid for the season 2001/2002 and quickly started to shine. Arbeloa played in Real Madrid C during the 2002/2003 campaign and one year later he performed with Real Madrid Castilla (Real Madrid B). At this point in his career, the youngster had an impressive record in his briefcase: he played with Spain's national squad in all possible categories (U-15, U-16, U-17, U-19 and U-21) and was also part of the team that conquered the 2001 UEFA-CAF Meridian Cup. In total he played three seasons at Madrid’s B-team. Curiously he played in different positions during this three years: Arbeloa started as right-back and later moved to the centre. During the season 2005/2006 coach López Caro also used him as a left-wingback.

Arbeloa's leadership qualities gave him the role of squad’s captain for the 2004/2005 campaign when the team achieved promotion back to the Segunda División, after nine years, and proved to be a squad full of potential diamonds. Names like Arbeloa, Soldado, Jurado, Balboa and De La Red were very well know among the fans. The media wrote once that this was one of the most promising squads to resurrect the glory from the Madrid past. During that season Arbeloa made his debut in the Primera División on 16 October 2004 at Betis Sevilla (1-1) when he replaced Mejía. An an experience that overwhelmed him: "I didn’t even knew that I would play. I was warming up like everybody else and suddenly... I was in and played 30 minutes!". His second (and final but full) Primera match he played on 9 January 2005 at Atlético de Madrid which the blancos won 0-3. According to the Spanish media he was one of the best players that night. Arbeloa also participated in some Copa del Rey matches that season.

But this progress in Madrid’s first team didn’t continue in the season 2005/2006. This had much to do with veteran Roberto Carlos (32) playing most minutes at the club after goalkeeper Casillas. The two coaches that Real Madrid had during that campaign (Luxemburgo and López Caro) didn't put much trust on him and he spent that season at Real Madrid B. Arbeloa started in 33 of the 44 games of Real Madrid Castilla and was one of the most booked players in the team (16). This lack of options in the star-team of Real Madrid accelerated his exit from the club. With the doors to Real Madrid's first team almost closed, Arbeloa knew that the best thing to do was to accept a new challenge. Deportivo president Lendoiro had him on his mind for the new Galician project and negotiations started in June 2006. Some weeks later a deal was finally done and Lendoiro set up a difficult construction with Real Madrid; an indication that the club from the capital wasn’t very convinced that Arbeloa would be worthless to them. Deportivo paid €1.3 million and Madrid will earn 50% of his possible sale during the next three years.

When the deal finally was done, speedy Arbeloa expressed his happiness: "Deportivo is one of the biggest clubs in Spain and I will have Joaquín Caparrós as my coach. He’s one of the best Spanish coaches available and Sergio Ramos has recommended him as a phenomenal man. I’m looking forward to my time here and know that my time at Madrid is over, after five years. However, Deportivo is a perfect opportunity. I'm sure that I can learn a lot here and, besides, it’s good to know they have trust in me." At the same time he criticized the situation in Madrid: “It cannot be that of every Castilla player not even one is worth to have. It could well be that we aren’t all equipped to play in the first team. But is not one of us worth it?.”

About his personal life, Arbeloa once confessed during an interview that he is a ‘standard’ boy who loves to play with his Playstation. During his time in Madrid, the Salamanca-born player lived with his brother since his family still lives in Zaragoza. The youngster confessed that he had to learn how to cook and he likes to read epic books like Alexander the Great by Valerio Massimo Manfredi. He also has a British bulldog that he named Ronnie, exactly like one of Ronaldo's nicknames."

http://www.deportivo-la-coruna.com/squad/arbeloa.html