Castellon
(Spain), Valencia CF (Spain), SS Lazio (Italy), FC Barcelona (Spain),
Middlesbrough FC (England)
Honours
1999
League Cup winner (Valencia CF) 2004 League Cup winner (Middlesbrough FC) 2000 Champions League Finals (Valencia CF) 2001 Champions League Finals (Valencia CF)
Biography
Gaizka Mendieta (born March 27, 1974 in Bilbao) is a
Spanish football (soccer) midfielder, who currently plays for
Middlesbrough of the English Premiership.
Mendieta started his club career with Castellón in 1991 and
moved to Valencia a year later. He became one of the most sought-after
players in Europe after leading his club to two consecutive
Champions League finals in 2000 and 2001. That led to a £29
million transfer to Lazio in 2001, but Mendieta disappointed in
Serie A, spending only a year with the Rome club. He was loaned
out to Barcelona for the 2002-03 season, and then to
Middlesbrough for 2003-04. The latter move was later made
permanent. For Spain, Mendieta has been capped 40 times (as of
2005), scoring eight goals. He played for his country at Euro
2000 and the 2002 World Cup.
As a Middlesbrough player, Mendieta was part of the team that
won the 2004 Carling Cup, the club's first ever major trophy.
After a season of adjusting to the English Premiership, he was
expected to make a huge impact in his second season. However, an
Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury ruled him out for most of the
campaign.
