Monchi

Monchi
Personal information
Full name Ramón Rodríguez Verdejo
Date of birth (1968-09-20) 20 September 1968
Place of birth San Fernando, Spain
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position Goalkeeper
Youth career
Sevilla
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1988–1990 Sevilla B
1990–1999 Sevilla 85 (0)
Total 85 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

† Appearances (goals)
This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Rodríguez and the second or maternal family name is Verdejo.

Ramón Rodríguez Verdejo (born 20 September 1968), commonly known as Monchi, is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper, and the current director of football of Sevilla FC.

Playing career

Born in San Fernando, Cádiz, Andalusia, Monchi graduated from Sevilla FC's youth system. He made his senior debuts with the reserves in the 1988–89 season, in Segunda División B.

In the 1990 summer, Monchi was promoted to the main squad in La Liga. He made his debut in the competition on 13 January 1991, starting in a 1–1 away draw against Real Sociedad.[1]

Monchi spent the vast majority of his career as a backup to Juan Carlos Unzué, only appearing more regularly from 1995 onwards. He played a career-best 26 matches in 1996–97, but the campaign ended in relegation.

Monchi retired in 1999 aged only 30, after contributing with 20 games – playoffs included – to his team's promotion.

Post-retirement

In 2000, after Sevilla got relegated from the top division, Monchi was appointed its director of football.[2] He was given two objectives by the board: develop the club's youth system and implement a vast scouting policy inside and outside Spain.

Monchi clearly shone in both tasks, as a big number of wonderkids came through the Rojiblancos youth setup (notably Diego Capel, Alberto Moreno, Jesús Navas, Antonio Puerta, Sergio Ramos and José Antonio Reyes),[3] and he also created a network of over 700 scouts around the world. Within this setup, he also helped the club discover a number of profittable bargains (including Adriano, Dani Alves, Júlio Baptista, Federico Fazio, Seydou Keita or Ivan Rakitić),[4] and helped it establish in the top half of the top division in the subsequent decades, making a profit of around €200 million.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "La Real no pasó del empate" [Real could get nothing more than a draw] (in Spanish). Mundo Deportivo. 14 January 1991. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  2. ↑ "The mastery of "Monchi": The power behind Sevilla’s throne". Bleacher Report. 19 December 2008. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  3. ↑ "Monchi the man behind the success of Sevilla’s youth system". La Liga News. 24 August 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  4. ↑ "Meet Monchi – the man who discovered Dani Alves and is attracting Barcelona". Goal.com. 23 October 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  5. ↑ "Monchi: The man who made Sevilla". ESPN FC. 11 August 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2015.

External links

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