Antonio Valencia

Antonio Valencia is a winger of Manchester United. He was born on 4 August 1985 in Lago Agrio, Ecuador.

His youth career began in 1999, when he joined the Caribe Junior academy. He had been a trainee and the youth team player for two years before joining the El Nacional academy in 2001. Antonio continued his successful performance and became one of the academy best trainees by 2004.

In 2003 Valencia was offered to join the first team and he accepted the offer, signing a contract, according to which he played till 2005. During two seasons from 2003 till 2005, Antonio was the pivot of the club, and made 83 appearances scoring 11 goals.

In 2005 Antonio moved to Europe, signing a three-year contract with Villarreal. But in the very first season he was sent on loan to the Second Division Recreativo. In 2005/2006 Valencia played 12 games for the club.

In 2006 he went on loan again. This time the English side Wigan became his new temporary club and Antonio signed a two-year contract. During two seasons, Antonio often played as a regular, making 37 appearances and finding the net once.

Wigan liked Valencia’s performance so much that the club decided to buy him from Villarreal. From 2008 till 2009 Antonio was the key player of the first team, who took part in 47 games and kicked 6 goals.

In 2009 the player’s career moved on to a new level, when he was offered to join Manchester United. The club tried to fill in the gap after Cristiano Ronaldo, the former midfielder, had left the club. The ‘Red Devils’ paid £16 million and signed a four-year contract with the Ecuadorian footballer. Nowadays Valencia is one of the key players of the club, still Sir Alex Ferguson often uses rotation in the first team. From 2009 Antonio has made 71 appearances and netted ten goals for the club.

From 2004 till 2005, Valencia took part in 23 matches of the Ecuador national U20 squad and fired 17 goals. From 2005 Antonio has been capped 52 times for the senior Ecuador team and banged in six goals.