Joan Verdú Fernández (; born 5 May 1983) is a Spanish former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

. A versatile

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, adept at both central or

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, he started professionally at

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, but played mainly for local rivals Espanyol during his career, amassing

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

totals of 262 games and 35 goals over nine seasons and also representing in the competition Deportivo, Betis and Levante.

Club career

Born in

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, Verdú was a product of

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

's youth system. He played mainly for its B side as a senior, making his debut with the main squad on 27 October 2004 in a 1–0 away loss against

UDA Gramenet Unión Deportiva Atlético Gramenet is a Spanish football team based in Santa Coloma de Gramenet, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1945 it currently plays in , holding home games at '' Municipal de Sant Adrià'' in Sant Adrià ...

in the round of 64 of the

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

; his second and last appearance took place on 7 December, in a 2–0 defeat at

FC Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk () is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club that was based in the city of Donetsk until 2014 when, due to the War in Donbas (2014–2022), War in Donbas, the club was forced to move to Lvi ...

for the group stage of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

. Verdú moved to

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña () or simply Depor, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, that competes in the Segunda División, the ...

for 2006–07, being relatively used by the

Galicians Galicians ( or ''pobo galego''; ) are an ethnic group primarily residing in Galicia, northwest Iberian Peninsula. Historical emigration resulted in populations in other parts of Spain, Europe, and the Americas. Galicians possess distinct cu ...

throughout the season and scoring in a 2–0 away win over

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D., usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Villarreal, in the Province of Castellón, Castellón province of easte ...

on 11 February 2007. He produced similar numbers in his

second year The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of ...

. Profiting from Juan Carlos Valerón's age and recurrent physical problems, Verdú had a breakthrough year in the 2008–09 campaign, often assuming the playmaking duties of the former while also adding seven league goals. However, after a new deal could not be agreed, the

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

moved back to his native region after three years, signing a four-year contract with

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

. Verdú netted against his previous team on 19 September 2009 in a 3–2 away victory, and started most of his

first year A freshman, fresher, first year, or colloquially frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational in ...

, also benefitting from age and injury-related problems of another teammate, Iván de la Peña. Without any real competitor the following season – de la Peña only saw 30 minutes of action– he improved his numbers to 37 games and five goals, as the ''Pericos'' finished comfortably in midtable. In summer 2013,

Verdú signed a four-year deal with another club in that tier,

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

. After suffering relegation, he went on to represent in quick succession

Baniyas Club Baniyas Sports & Cultural Club is an United Arab Emirates, Emirati sports club based in Al Shamkha, in the Baniyas area of Abu Dhabi. The club's association football, football section competes in the UAE Pro League. Presidency * SourcePreside ...

(

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

ACF Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

(Italy) and

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 6 September 1909, the club will compete in La Liga for the 2025– ...

. On 12 January 2017, the 33-year-old Verdú moved to the

China League One The Chinese Football League 1 (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (), is the second level of professional football in China, under the Chinese Super League. The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football Association ...

with Qingdao Huanghai FC, where he shared teams with compatriot Martí Crespí. In November 2020, he returned to football at

Nou Barris Nou Barris (, "nine neighbourhoods") is one of the ten districts into which Barcelona has been officially divided since 1984. The name refers to the original nine neighbourhoods it was composed of, even though nowadays it is made up of thirteen. ...

-based

CF Montañesa Club de Futbol Montañesa is a Spanish football team based in Barcelona in the district of Nou Barris, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1927, it plays in the , holding home games at ''Camp Municipal de Nou Barris'', with a ca ...

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

, signing alongside his former Barcelona and Espanyol teammate

Sergio García Sergio García Fernández (; born 9 January 1980) is a Spanish professional golfer. He turned professional in 1999 and played on the European Tour and PGA Tour prior to joining LIV Golf in 2022. García has won 36 international tournaments as ...

Career statistics

Honours

Deportivo *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Qingdao Huanghai *

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Verdu, Joan 1983 births Living people 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Barcelona Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Tercera Federación players FC Barcelona C players FC Barcelona Atlètic players FC Barcelona players Deportivo de La Coruña players RCD Espanyol footballers Real Betis players Levante UD footballers CF Montañesa players CE L'Hospitalet players UAE Pro League players Baniyas Club players Serie A players ACF Fiorentina players China League One players Qingdao F.C. players Kings League players Spain men's youth international footballers Catalonia men's international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in China Spanish expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Spanish expatriate sportspeople in China