Ramón Rodríguez Verdejo (born 20 September 1968), known as Monchi, 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 ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. He is the president of football operations at

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

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

. He played solely for

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 ...

in a nine-year professional career. Later, he worked as

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an senior management, executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many typ ...

at that club (two spells),

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

and

Playing career

Born in

San Fernando, Cádiz San Fernando (, "Saint Ferdinand") is a town in the Cádiz (province), 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 ...

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

, Monchi signed with

from his local club

San Fernando San Fernando may refer to: People *Ferdinand III of Castile (c. 1200–1252), called ''San Fernando'' (Spanish) or ''Saint Ferdinand'', King of Castile, León, and Galicia Places Argentina *San Fernando de la Buena Vista, city of Greater Buenos ...

. He made his senior debut with the former's reserves in the 1988–89 season, in 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 ...

. In the summer of 1990, Monchi was promoted to the main squad in

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 ...

. He first appeared in the competition on 13 January 1991, starting in a 1–1 away draw against

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad ( ; ''Royal Society'') in English, and Erreala or Reala in Basque language, Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Donostia / San Sebastián, ...

. Monchi spent the vast majority of his career as a backup to

Juan Carlos Unzué Juan Carlos Unzué Labiano (born 22 April 1967) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a goalkeeper. As a player, he represented mostly Sevilla, for which he appeared in nearly 300 official games. He also spent two years ...

, 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

. 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 Diego Ángel Capel Trinidad (; born 16 February 1988) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a left winger. He made his senior debut with Sevilla at 16, going on to appear in 173 competitive matches for the club over seven La ...

Alberto Moreno Alberto Moreno Pérez (; born 5 July 1992) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a left-back for club Como. An academy graduate of local side Sevilla, he made his senior debut for the club's reserve side in 2011 before going on t ...

Jesús Navas Jesús Navas González (; born 21 November 1985) is a Spanish former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football)#Full-back, right-back or Midfielder#Winger, right winger. He spent the vast majo ...

Antonio Puerta Antonio José Puerta Pérez (; 26 November 1984 – 28 August 2007) was a Spanish professional Association football, footballer who played solely for Sevilla FC, Sevilla. Mainly a Midfielder#Wide midfielder, left midfielder who could also oper ...

Sergio Ramos Sergio Ramos García (; born 30 March 1986) is a Spanish professional Association football, footballer who plays as a centre-back for and captain (association football), captains Liga MX club C.F. Monterrey, Monterrey. Regarded as one of the gr ...

and

José Antonio Reyes José Antonio Reyes Calderón (; 1 September 1983 – 1 June 2019) was a Spanish professional footballer who played mainly as a left winger and also as a forward. He made his debut for Sevilla aged 16 and signed for English club Arsenal in J ...

, 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 Adriano is the form of the Latin given name ''Hadrianus'' commonly used in the Italian language; the form Adrião can be used in the Portuguese language while the form Adrian is used in the English language. Notable people with the name include: ...

Dani Alves Daniel "Dani" Alves da Silva (; born 6 May 1983) is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a right-back. Widely regarded as one of the best full-backs of all time, he is also one of the most decorated players with 43 trophies ...

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. Baptista is nicknamed "The Beast" due to his size and physical presence on the ...

Federico Fazio Federico Julián Fazio (born 17 March 1987) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a central defender. Fazio began his career at Ferro Carril Oeste, signing for Sevilla in 2007. He made 204 official appearances for the latt ...

Seydou Keita Seydou Keïta (; anglicised to Keita; born 16 January 1980) is a Malian former professional footballer. A versatile midfielder, he operated as both a central or defensive midfielder. He is both the record appearance holder and scorer of the Ma ...

and

Ivan Rakitić Ivan Rakitić (; born 10 March 1988) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for HNL club Hajduk Split. Rakitić started his professional career at Basel and spent two seasons with them before he was signed by Schalke ...

), making a profit of around

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

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 eleven trophies during his tenure. Later that month, he signed a four-year contract in the same role with

in Italy's

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

. On 17 March 2019, Monchi confirmed that he would be returning to Sevilla as sporting director the following month. He occupied the position until June 2023, when he was announced as president of football operations at

club

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Monchi 1968 births Living people Sportspeople from San Fernando, Cádiz 20th-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from the Province of Cádiz Men's association football goalkeepers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Sevilla Atlético players Sevilla FC players Sevilla FC non-playing staff AS Roma non-playing staff Aston Villa F.C. non-playing staff Aston Villa F.C. directors and chairmen Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England

Playing career

Sporting director

See also

References

External links