Enric Vallès Prat (born 1 March 1990) is a Spanish

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 ...

coach and former player who is the

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

of the ''Juvenil C'' squad of

Girona FC Girona Futbol Club, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. ( ) is a Spanish professional Football team, football club based in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Founded on 23 July 1930, the team plays in La Liga, to which they gained promotion in the 2022 ...

. A

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 ...

, Vallès began his career in the youth system 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 ...

before playing for

NAC Breda NAC Breda (), often simply known as NAC, is a Dutch professional football club, based in Breda, Netherlands. NAC Breda play in the Rat Verlegh Stadium, named after their most important player, Antoon 'Rat' Verlegh. They play in the Eredivisi ...

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

Olot Olot (; ) is the capital city of the ''Catalonia/Comarques, comarca'' of Garrotxa, in the Province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. The city is known for its natural landscape, including four volcanoes scattered around the city center. The municipali ...

, Cornellà,

Manresa Manresa () is the capital of Bages county, located in the central region of Catalonia, Spain. Crossed by the river Cardener, it is an industrial area with textile, metallurgical, and glass industries. The houses of Manresa are arranged aro ...

Harrisburg City Islanders Harrisburg City Islanders, known as Penn FC in their final season, were an American professional soccer team based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 2003, the team most recently played in the USL Pro, the second tier of the ...

Sandefjord Sandefjord () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Vestfold. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Sandefjord ...

, Tona, San Cristóbal, Bosc de Tosca, and Puigreig.

Career

Born in

Puig-reig ; ) is a municipality and town in the Comarques of Catalonia, comarca of Berguedà, Catalonia. As of 2009, the town had a population of 4,403. Atop a hill overlooking the Llobregat River, the town includes two medieval fortresses, as well as numer ...

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 ...

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 ...

, Vallès began his football career in the youth system of

. In 2008, he played alongside Gai Assulin and

Iago Falque Iago Falque Silva (, ; born 4 January 1990) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a forward. Club career Early career Born in Vigo, Galicia, Falque began his career with Real Madrid before moving to Barcelona in 2001. After severa ...

in the team that reached the final of the Spanish Youth Cup, in which they lost 2–0 to

Sevilla Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...

's youngsters. Vallès left Barcelona in August 2008, as an 18-year-old, to turn professional with

of the Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

, signing a two-year contract. Recommended by an agent who likened him to

Albert Riera Albert Riera Ortega (born 15 April 1982) is a Spanish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former player who is the manager of Slovenian PrvaLiga club NK Celje, Celje. He played as a winger (association football), ...

, then of

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, Vallès had a week's trial with English

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club

. The trial proved successful, and in May 2010, he signed a pre-contract agreement to join the club on 1 July upon the expiry of his contract with NAC Breda, for whom he had played four matches in the Eredivisie. In his first interview after joining Birmingham, Vallès described himself as a "left midfielder who can also play on the wing" whose main strengths were his dribbling and his work ethic; he also revealed his desire to play in the same team as fellow Spaniard Míchel. Manager

Alex McLeish Alexander McLeish (born 21 January 1959) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He played as a defender for Aberdeen during their 1980s glory years, making nearly 500 League appearances for the club, and won 77 caps f ...

summed him up as a "big, tall, lad, left-sided and maybe not the explosion of some wingers, but a very good footballer". After a successful pre-season, Vallès made his competitive debut for Birmingham in the second-round League Cup-tie against

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

on 26 August 2010. His only other appearance came in the next round of the League Cup, and a proposed loan move to League One (third-tier) club

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

or possible return to Spain came to nothing when the player suffered a stress fracture to his foot. He made a return to the first-team squad as an unused substitute for the final match of the season, which confirmed Birmingham's

relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

from the Premier League, and the club took up their option to extend his contract for a further year. Vallès was occasionally included in the matchday squad during that year but made no more first-team appearances, and he was released when his contract expired at the end of the 2011–12 season. On 15 November 2012, Vallès signed for

UE Olot Unió Esportiva Olot, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Olot, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1921, it plays in , holding home games at ''Estadi Municipal d'Olot'', with a capacity of 3,000 seats. History The histo ...

of the Spanish

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 ...

. He scored four goals as Olot finished as champions of their group, thus qualifying for the

promotion playoffs Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

. Although Vallès suffered a hamstring injury in the second round of the playoffs that was to keep him out for what remained of the season, his team went on to defeat

Arandina CF Arandina Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team based in Aranda de Duero, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded in 1987, it plays in , holding home games at ''Estadio El Montecillo'', with a capacity of 6,000 seats. Hist ...

in the final round to earn promotion to the

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: 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 ...

for the first time in the club's history. Vallès was not kept on for the new season, and signed for another Tercera División club,

UE Cornellà Unió Esportiva Cornellà, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S. A. D. is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Cornellà de Llobregat, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1951 it plays in , holding home gam ...

, in August 2013. Again, he contributed to the club's first ever promotion to the Segunda B, and again, he was released at the end of the season. Vallès then dropped down a level to the

Primera Catalana The Primera Catalana is the 7th tier of the Spanish football league system and the second highest league in the autonomous community of Catalonia. The league was formed in 1991 to replace Regional Preferent as the first level of Catalonia and was ...

to join

CE Manresa Centre d'Esports Manresa is a Spanish football team based in Manresa, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1916, it plays in , holding home games at ''Nou Estadi Municipal del Congost'', with a capacity of 3,000 spectators. Histo ...

for 2014–15. Vallés signed for

United Soccer League The United Soccer League (USL) is an organizer of various professional and amateur soccer leagues in the United States league system. It currently organizes its Championship, League One, and League Two for men, its Super League and W Leag ...

club

ahead of the 2015 season. On 20 November 2015, Vallès signed a two-year contract with

Norwegian First Division The Norwegian First Division, also called 1. divisjon () and OBOS-ligaen (due to sponsoring ties with :no:OBOS, OBOS), is the second-highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Each year, the top finishing teams in the 1. divisjon ...

side

. He then returned to Spain, playing with

, Tona and San Cristóbal.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Valles, Enric 1990 births Living people People from Berguedà Footballers from the Province of Barcelona Spanish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders FC Barcelona players NAC Breda players Birmingham City F.C. players UE Olot players UE Cornellà players CE Manresa players UE Tona players CP San Cristóbal players Penn FC players Sandefjord Fotball players Eredivisie players Tercera División players USL Championship players Norwegian First Division players Eliteserien players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Spanish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Norway Expatriate men's footballers in Norway Spanish football managers 21st-century Spanish sportsmen