Nolberto Solano

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Personal information
Nolberto Solano
Full name	Nolberto Albino Solano Todco
Date of birth	December 12, 1974 (1974-12-12) (age 33)
Place of birth	Callao, Peru
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Unnattached
Number	-
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1993–1994 1994–1997 1997–1998 1998–2004 2004–2005 2005–2007 2007–2008	Deportivo Municipal Sporting Cristal Boca Juniors Newcastle United Aston Villa Newcastle United West Ham United	024 0(2) 077 (31) 032 0(5) 172 (29) 049 0(8) 058 0(8) 023 0(4)
National team²
1994–	Peru	082 (20)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20:23, 11 May 2008 (UTC). ² National team caps and goals correct as of 5 April 2008 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Nolberto "Nobby" or "Ñol" Albino Solano Todco (born December 12, 1974, Callao, Peru) is a Peruvian football player who is currently without a club.He is a popular figure in his native Peru, where he is seen as one of the most famous Peruvians. He even has a postage stamp in his name and figure.

His talents in football range from accurate crosses to accomplished dead-ball skills and he has traditionally played either on the right wing, or as a right back during his career. He is the first choice player to take corner and direct free kicks. Solano is the first Peruvian to play in the Premier League. He is also an accomplished trumpet player and has set up his own Salsa band, The Geordie Latinos.^[1] He has described himself as an 'adopted Geordie'.^[2]

1 Biography
- 1.1 Early life
2 Club career
3 Honours
4 Notes and references
5 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Nolberto Solano, was born in Callao, the youngest of his family. His father Albino was in the Peruvian Navy, whilst his mother was a housewife who raised Nolberto, his four brothers and two sisters. He began playing football at a very early age in the streets of Callao. Before his father retired, he became a taxi driver.

Solano witnessed the Peru national football team qualify for the 1978 FIFA World Cup at the age of three and again qualify for the 1982 FIFA World Cup at the age of seven. The second World Cup he witnessed had the biggest effect on him. At that time he played a lot of football and his national team inspired him.

[edit] Club career

Solano signed his first professional contract in with the Peruvian first division side Sporting Cristal in 1992 at the age of 17. Towards the end of his first season at Sporting Cristal he signed a one year contract with Municipal before returning at the end of 1993. During his second spell at Sporting Cristal the club won the Peruvian Championship in 1994, 1995 and 1996, and reached the finals of the 1997's Copa Libertadores with Solano a regular fixture in the defence. In 1997 at the age of 22 he signed for Argentinian side Boca Juniors. Here he became a teammate of the highly respected footballer Diego Maradona, who nicknamed Solano the 'Maestrito'.^[2]

[edit] Newcastle United

In 1998, Solano became the first Peruvian to play in England when he signed a contract with Newcastle United for a fee of precisely £2,763,958. His debut Newcastle performance came in a Premier League match against Chelsea on August 22, after 67 minutes of play, as a substitute for goalscorer Andreas Andersson.

In June 2001, he signed a new contract which would mean he could keep his place at the club for five years. A month later he scored what he later described as "the best goal of [his] career" with a solo goal against 1860 München.^[3] Nevertheless he was sold in the January transfer window of 2004 to Aston Villa. He had been an extremely popular member of Newcastle's squad and many fans voiced their anger over his sale.

[edit] Aston Villa

Solano joined Aston Villa in January 2004 for a fee of £1.5 million and signed a two-and -a-half year contract with the club.^[4] He made his debut in a 5-0 win over Leicester City, and during the course of his time there he became a valuable asset, becoming their top scorer for the 2004-05 season, and was elected the club's Player of the Year by the supporters, the local press and his teammates.

[edit] Newcastle United

Solano returned to Newcastle United in August 2005 for a fee of £1.5 million with midfielder James Milner going the other way to Aston Villa on a season-long loan.^[5] He signed a two-year contract with the option for Newcastle to extend it for another year.^[5] His re-signing was met with delight by Newcastle fans, who had chanted "Nobby's" name during the unveiling of record signing Michael Owen earlier on that deadline day.

In the 2006-07 season, injuries to right-back Stephen Carr and others caused the Newcastle United manager Glenn Roeder to play Solano at right-back instead of his usual right-wing position. However it was not an unfamiliar playing position to Solano, as he started his football career in defence and had featured at right-back for his country. He impressed in this position and his instrumental form kept former first choice right-back Stephen Carr out of the team. With his contract due to expire at the end of the season, Roeder revealed he was in talks to extend Solano's contract to the end of next season. Solano signed a new one-year contract at Newcastle in the summer of 2007, however a few months later he asked to leave the club so to move closer to his family, who had moved to London.^[6]

[edit] West Ham United

Solano signed a one-year contract with West Ham United in August 2007.^[7] He made his debut for West Ham in October 2007, coming on as a second half substitute in the 3–1 home defeat of Sunderland, and was instrumental in West Ham's second goal, his shot being deflected into the Sunderland goal by goalkeeper, Craig Gordon.^[8] His first goal for West Ham was a free-kick and the fifth goal in West Ham's 5-0 away win against Derby County on 10 November 2007^[9]. He is still a favourite with the Geordie following as they were chanting his name at the Boleyn Ground when Newcastle were playing West Ham on 25th April 2008, they also cheered when he made a 30 second appearance for the Hammers. On the last game of the season in May 2008 Solano scored his second free-kick goal against Aston Villa, the match ended 2-2. He was released by West Ham at the end of the 2007–08 season.^[10]

[edit] International career

Solano made his full international debut for Peru at the age of 18, since then he has been capped 77 times, scoring 20 goals. He has been a key member of the squad since the mid-1990s but, in June 2005, Solano decided to quit the Peruvian national football team due to disagreements with the coach, Freddy Ternero. In 2006, he returned to the national team setup under new coach Franco Navarro. Despite his return to the national team, Solano was not selected for Peru's Copa America 2007 squad.