Javier Garrido

Javier Garrido

Personal information
Full name	Javier Garrido Behobide
Date of birth	15 March 1985 (1985-03-15) (age 24)
Place of birth	Irun, Spain
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[1]
Playing position	Left back
Club information
Current club	Manchester City
Number	15
Youth career
	Real Sociedad
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2001–2004	Real Sociedad B	44	(1)
2004–2007	Real Sociedad	86	(1)
2007–	Manchester City	43	(2)
National team‡
2001–2002	Spain U17	13	(0)
2004	Spain U19	9	(0)
2005	Spain U20	2	(0)
2005–2006	Spain U21	9	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 28 December 2009. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 1 July 2008

Javier Garrido Behobide (born 15 March 1985 in Irun) is a Spanish footballer who currently plays for English Premier League club Manchester City. He is a left back characterized by his constant overlapping runs.^[2] Born in the Basque Country, Garrido is the first Basque player to represent the club.

Club career

Real Sociedad

Signed for Real Sociedad when he was a child and continued his training at the lower levels of the club. Between 2002 and 2004, he was part of the players of Real Sociedad B, where he played 50 games for this team in the Second Division B.

He made his debut with the first team of Real Sociedad in a Copa del Rey match on October 8, 2003 with a 2–1 win against Real Oviedo. Garrido's professional career began in 2004 when he became a part of the first team in the 2004–05 season to replace Agustín Aranzábalee, who had left the club in the summer transfer window for Real Zaragoza. He made his league debut against Levante UD on August 29, 2004. In his three seasons with Real Sociedad in La Liga, he played 86 games and scored 1 goal, winning the world cup, and being the most used left-back for Sociedad in those three seasons. Despite starting the season with Real Sociedad, he left due to his team's economical problems following their relegation in 2006–07.

Manchester City

On 2 August 2007, Garrido signed for Manchester City for £1.5m (€2.2 million),^[3] on a 4-year contract.^[4][5] He made his debut on 11 August against West Ham. Garrido played a part in the most successful Premiership start in the club's history with four victories and four clean sheets from the opening six games. But he was replaced by Michael Ball just before Christmas. His team eventually ended in the ninth place in the league and qualified for the UEFA Cup through fairplay.

Javier scored his first goal for City direct from a free kick against Liverpool in their 3-2 loss on 5 October 2008.^[6] His second season with City was more disappointing than the first, as he only made 13 league appearances, 14 less than the previous season. The following summer he took part in the Vodacom Challenge appearing in a game against Kaizer Chiefs and as an unused substitute against Celtic. During his third season in England, Garrido found it increasingly harder to find a place in the first team squad. However this changed when Roberto Mancini replaced Mark Hughes as City manager, he came off the bench against Stoke City on Boxing Day to gain only his first league appearance of the 2009-10 season, a few days later he came off the bench for Stephen Ireland against Wolves and scored a spectacular freekick.^[7]

International career

Garrido played for Spain U-19 where he won the 2004 edition of UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship. He also earned four caps for Spain U-21. He has not received any call-up to the Spain national football team to date.

Statistics

As of 1 December 2008

Honours

• Spain U19:
  • UEFA U-19 Championship : 2004

References

External links

• Manchester City profile
• BDFutbol profile
• Javier Garrido FIFA competition record
• Javier Garrido career stats at Soccerbase