Julián Speroni

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Personal information
Julián Speroni
Full name	Julián Speroni
Date of birth	May 18, 1979 (1979-05-18) (age 29)
Place of birth	Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Crystal Palace
Number	12
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2000-2001 2001-2004 2004-	Platense Dundee Crystal Palace	02 (0) 92 (0) 61 (0)
National team²
? ?	Argentina U20 Argentina U23	? (?) ? (?)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 14:51, 14 May 2008 (UTC). ² National team caps and goals correct as of 9 February 2008. * Appearances (Goals)

Julián Speroni (born May 18, 1979 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine footballer who plays for Crystal Palace in The Championship. He wears the number 12 shirt and is a goalkeeper.

[edit] Football career

Speroni started his career with Club Atlético Platense, in his homeland, but moved after just one year as a professional, to Scottish side Dundee.

He excelled at Dundee, becoming a cult figure due to his cavalier style, often attempting to beat players using his feet. He also made himself all the more popular by vowing that he would "never join [Dundee's rivals] Dundee United".

However, with Dundee in financial trouble, Speroni ended up moving south of the border, to newly-promoted Crystal Palace, for a fee of £500,000.

On his home debut for Palace, against Everton, his erratic play would lead to him coming a cropper when, with Palace a goal up, he failed to wrong-foot Kevin Campbell while dithering on the ball when a simple clearance from a backpass was expected to be made, and having brought down the veteran striker, Thomas Gravesen converted the resulting penalty and Palace went on to lose by three goals to one. Consequently, with the Palace backline having lost confidence in their goalkeeper, the Eagles did not pick up a single point from their next four games (all in which Speroni featured), leading to his being replaced by Hungarian international Gábor Király.

Speroni found himself on the sidelines for three whole seasons as Király made the goalkeeping spot his own, until the Hungarian departed Selhurst Park at the end of the 2006-07 season. Back in the line-up Speroni flourished and won his reputation back, earning at new three-year contract at the end of the 2007-08 season and the club's "Player of the Year" award.