Ramón Rodríguez Verdejo (born 20 September 1968), commonly known as Monchi, is a Spanish retired
footballer who played as a
goalkeeper, currently
director of football of
Sevilla FC.
Playing career
Born in
San Fernando, Cádiz
San Fernando (, "Saint Ferdinand") is a town in the province of Cádiz, Spain. It is home to more than 97,500 inhabitants. The city also uses the name "''La Isla''" (The Island). The people from San Fernando are locally known as "''Cañaíllas''" ...
,
Andalusia, Monchi graduated from
Sevilla FC's youth system. He made his senior debut with
the reserves in the
1988–89 season, in
Segunda División B
Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...
.
In the summer of 1990, Monchi was promoted to the main squad in
La Liga. He first appeared in the competition on 13 January 1991, starting in a 1–1 away draw against
Real Sociedad
Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...
.
Monchi spent the vast majority of his career as a backup to
Juan Carlos Unzué, only featuring more regularly from 1995 onwards. He played a career-best 26 matches in
1996–97, as the campaign ended in relegation.
Monchi retired in 1999 aged only 30, after contributing 20 games – playoffs included – to
his team's promotion.
Sporting director
In 2000, after
Sevilla were relegated from the top division, Monchi was appointed their
director of football. 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 helped discover
Diego Capel,
Alberto Moreno,
Jesús Navas,
Antonio Puerta,
Sergio Ramos
Sergio Ramos García (; born 30 March 1986) is a Spanish professional Association football, footballer who plays as a centre-back for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain F.C., Paris Saint-Germain and the Spain national football team, Spain nationa ...
and
José Antonio Reyes, and he also created a network of over 700 scouts around the world. Within this setup, he sourced a number of profitable bargains (including
Adriano,
Dani Alves,
Júlio Baptista
Júlio César Clemente Pereira Baptista (born 1 October 1981) is a Brazilian football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder or a forward. He is the current manager of Valladolid B.
Baptista is nicknamed "The Beast" du ...
,
Federico Fazio,
Seydou Keita and
Ivan Rakitić), making a profit of around
€200 million in the transfer market, as the club established itself in the top half of the top division in his 16 years there.
Monchi asked to leave Sevilla in the 2016 off-season, but the board did not accept his request unless he paid his
€5 million buyout clause. He left in April 2017, having helped win 11 trophies during his tenure. Later that month, he signed a four-year contract in the same role with
A.S. Roma in Italy's
Serie A.
On 17 March 2019, Monchi confirmed that he would be returning to Sevilla as sporting director the following month.
See also
*
List of one-club men
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monchi
1968 births
Living people
People from San Fernando, Cádiz
Sportspeople from the Province of Cádiz
Spanish footballers
Footballers from Andalusia
Association football goalkeepers
La Liga players
Segunda División players
Segunda División B players
Sevilla Atlético players
Sevilla FC players
Sevilla FC non-playing staff
A.S. Roma non-playing staff
Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Italy