Román Golobart Benet (born 21 March 1992) is a Spanish 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 le ...

who plays for Cypriot club Nea Salamis Famagusta FC as a central defender.

Club career

Wigan Athletic

Born in Barcelona, Catalonia, 17-year-old Golobart signed for

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

from RCD Espanyol on 7 August 2009 as new manager Roberto Martínez identified him as a future talent. Despite appearances in pre-season

friendlies An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

and on the substitutes bench, he failed to play a competitive match in his first two seasons at the club, and in August 2011 was loaned to

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

side

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team currently competes in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional F ...

for six months. He made his debut the following day at Pittodrie against Aberdeen, but was unaccustomed to the pace of Scottish football and made two significant errors during the 1–2 away loss. Golobart scored his first goal for Inverness on 24 December 2011, also against Aberdeen but now in a 2–1 home win. Shortly before the game he had expressed a desire to extend his loan spell, which eventually befell under manager Terry Butcher, with the pair having previously been engaged in a heated discussion during training, and he made his last appearance for the club in a 1–0 away victory over St Mirren, also winning the Young Player of the Year award. On 31 August 2012, Golobart joined Tranmere Rovers on a one-month loan deal. He made his debut a day later in a 4–0 win against Colchester United, but failed to play again for his new team following

Ash Taylor Ashton John Taylor (born 2 September 1990) is a professional footballer who plays as a defender for club Bradford City. He began his career with Tranmere Rovers, and during his time there had a loan spell at Colwyn Bay. He later played for Sc ...

's early return from injury. Golobart played his first match for Wigan on 5 January 2013, in

the third round ''The Third Round'' (1925) was the second silent film adaptation of the Bulldog Drummond character, starring Jack Buchanan and Betty Faire, adapted by Sidney Morgan from the novel of the same name by H. C. McNeile, and directed by Morgan. Cas ...

of the FA Cup against

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

. He made his Premier League debut for the Latics that same month, starting at

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

in a 2–2 draw.

FC Köln

At the end of the 2012–13 season, Golobart turned down a new deal with Wigan and signed a three-year contract with

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., commonly known as simply FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English, is a German professional football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 as a merger of the clubs ''Kölner Ballspi ...

. He made his debut in the

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

on 20 July 2013, playing the full 90 minutes in a 1–1 away draw against Dynamo Dresden. In February 2015, Golobart was loaned to

FC Erzgebirge Aue Fußball Club Erzgebirge Aue e.V., commonly known as simply FC Erzgebirge Aue or Erzgebirge Aue (), is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Aue-Bad Schlema, Saxony. The former East German side was a founding member of the 3. ...

also in the German second division for the remainder of the campaign.

Return to Spain

On 21 August 2015, Golobart returned to his homeland, signing a one-year deal with the option of a second at third-tier club Racing de Ferrol, contributing two goals from 36 appearances as they reached the play-offs. The following 23 July, he transferred to fellow league team Real Murcia. After the latter's defeat to

Valencia CF Mestalla Valencia Club de Fútbol Mestalla, shortened to Valencia Mestalla, is the reserve team of Valencia CF, a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake community. Founded in 1944, an ...

in the playoffs, Golobart joined Elche CF in June 2017. In November, his club warned him over controversial online comments relating to the political unrest in his native region. The following January, having rescinded his contract at the Estadio Manuel Martínez Valero, he moved to

Mérida AD Asociación Deportiva Mérida, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Mérida, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Founded in 2013 it is a successor club of CP Mérida, it currently plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 1. Hist ...

also from division three.

International career

Golobart represented Spain at under-17 level. His first cap came in a 1–1 draw with England.

Personal life

Golobart's father,

Joan Joan may refer to: People and fictional characters * Joan (given name), including a list of women, men and fictional characters *:Joan of Arc, a French military heroine * Joan (surname) Weather events *Tropical Storm Joan (disambiguation), multip ...

, was also a footballer. He also represented Espanyol, but at senior level. Golobart shared his birthdate with fellow Espanyol youth graduate

Jordi Amat Jordi Amat Maas (; ; born 21 March 1992) is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Malaysia Super League club Johor Darul Ta'zim and the Indonesia national team. He spent the better part of his career with Espanyol and Swanse ...

Club statistics

Honours

Wigan Athletic * FA Cup:

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Golobart, Roman 1992 births Living people Spanish footballers Footballers from Barcelona Association football defenders Segunda División B players RCD Espanyol footballers Racing de Ferrol footballers Real Murcia players Elche CF players Mérida AD players Premier League players English Football League players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Scottish Premier League players Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. players 2. Bundesliga players 1. FC Köln players FC Erzgebirge Aue players Cypriot First Division players Cypriot Second Division players Nea Salamis Famagusta FC players AEK Larnaca FC players Doxa Katokopias FC players Israeli Premier League players Maccabi Netanya F.C. players Spain youth international footballers Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Scotland Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in Israel Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Israel