Roberto Martínez

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Other uses: Roberto Martínez y Gutiérrez

Roberto Martínez (born 13 July 1973 in Balaguer, Catalonia, Spain) is a professional footballer who currently plays for Chester City. A skilful midfielder,and was recently captain of Swansea City F.C..

Martínez began his career at his home-town club Balaguer in the Spanish Third Division in 1994,before moving to Real Zaragoza, playing in La Liga for the Catalan side. Was surprisingly signed by Wigan Athletic on a free transfer on 25 July 1995 alongside two other players from La Liga. Martínez spent six seasons at Wigan, making 180 appearances for the club (with a further 47 as substitute), scoring 23 goals.

Released on a free transfer, Martínez signed for Motherwell on 3 July 2001 but made only eight appearances (plus eight more as substitute) in Scotland before joining Walsall on a free transfer on 13 August 2002. Again, he did not feature regularly, starting just one game for Walsall and making five substitute appearances - though he did manage to be sent off twice in his short spell in the First Division!

On 31 January 2003, Martínez joined Swansea City on a short term contract until the end of the season, helping to preserve the club's Football League status despite a brush with relegation. On 23 June 2003, Martínez made a permanent move to the Welsh club.

To the end of season 05/06, he had made 111 appearances for Swansea City (with a further eleven as substitute) and had scored four goals. It was announced on 30 May 2006 that 'Berto has been released on a free transfer by Swansea City .

Roberto has since joined Chester City FC on a Free transfer, signing a two year contract. He made his pre-season debut against Huddersfield Town FC playing for 90 minutes on Saturday 29th July, 2006.

Martínez is also known to viewers of Sky Sports' coverage of Spanish football: he is a regular studio guest who, despite having been resident in the UK for over a decade, speaks with a degree of authority about the game in Spain.

Chester City F.C. - Current Squad
2 Marples | 3 Sandwith | 4 S. Vaughan | 5 Bolland | 6 Hessey | 7 Hand | 9 Blundell | 10 Broughton | 11 Cronin | 12 Danby | 14 Walters | 15 Allen | 16 Bennett | 17 Wilson | 18 Westwood | 19 Linwood | 20 Martínez | 21 Artell | 26 J. Vaughan | 27 Holroyd | 28 Marsh-Evans | 31 Cadwallader | 32 Rutherford | 33 Palethorpe | Manager: Wright