Miguel Marcos Madera

Míchel

Míchel in pre-season for Birmingham (2011)
Personal information
Full nameMiguel Marcos Madera
Date of birth8 November 1985[1]
Place of birthLena, Spain
Height1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Playing positionMidfielder
Club information
Current team
Maccabi Haifa
Number24
Youth career
–2003Oviedo
2003–2004Sporting Gijón
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
2004–2005Sporting B
2005–2010Sporting Gijón139(7)
2010–2011Birmingham City9(0)
2011→ AEK Athens (loan)15(1)
2011–2014Getafe54(1)
2014–Maccabi Haifa20(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 00:00, 13 April 2015 (UTC).
† Appearances (Goals).
This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Marcos and the second or maternal family name is Madera.

Miguel Marcos Madera (born 8 November 1985), commonly known as Míchel, is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for Israeli club Maccabi Haifa as a central midfielder.

Having been brought through the youth academy of Real Oviedo, he played with the first team of rivals Sporting de Gijón in both the Segunda División and La Liga, before eventually leaving for Premier League club Birmingham City in January 2010.

He spent the second half of the 2010–11 season on loan at AEK Athens, before returning to Spain for a three-year spell with Getafe. He signed for Maccabi Haifa in September 2014.

Football career

Sporting Gijón

Born in Lena, Asturias,[2] Míchel emerged through Real Oviedo's youth academy and transferred to Sporting de Gijón for the 2003–04 season. He helped Sporting's under-19 team win the Youth Champions Cup that year, and was named MVP of the final game.[3]

Míchel started his senior career in 2004, with the club's reserves. Subsequently he progressed to the first team, competing in the Segunda División; he played 24 matches in the 2005–06 campaign and scored one goal, in a 4–0 away win against Gimnàstic de Tarragona.[4]

In 2007–08, Míchel helped the Asturian club return to La Liga after a ten-year absence. He was handed the vice-captaincy for the start of the following season, and made his debut in the top flight on 31 August 2008, playing 90 minutes in a 2–1 home defeat to Getafe.[5] He went on to appear in 30 matches, 24 as a starter, as Sporting avoided relegation on the last matchday.

Birmingham City

Speculation had linked Míchel with Birmingham City, newly promoted to the English Premier League, in the summer of 2009,[6] but the transfer was not completed until 11 January 2010, for a fee of £3 million. The player signed a two-and-a-half-year deal, with an option to extend the contract for a further 12 months.[7][8] Spanish journalist and Sky Sports pundit Guillem Balagué described him as a good passer of the ball, tactically aware and positionally disciplined, and "not scared of the physical side", comparing him in style to Javier Mascherano, but "with a better range of passing".[8]

Míchel made his first appearance in the Premier League on 27 January, replacing James McFadden in the 73rd minute as Birmingham's 15-game unbeaten run came to an end as they lost 3–0 to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge,[9] and made his home debut three days later, again as a substitute.[10] However, the fitness and what manager Alex McLeish described as "stunning" form of captain Barry Ferguson in central midfield meant that Míchel was restricted to just nine league appearances, and he was made available for loan in the January 2011 transfer window.[11][12]

In January 2011, Míchel joined Superleague Greece club AEK Athens on loan for the remainder of the season.[13] He made his debut for the club in a 2–0 away win against Skoda Xanthi,[14] and on his second appearance, scored a 40-metre free kick against Panathinaikos in the seventh minute of stoppage time to take his team through to the semifinals of the 2010–11 Greek Cup, 4–3 on aggregate.[15] AEK went on to win the competition, but he did not play in the final.[16]

Getafe

In August 2011, Míchel played his first 45 minutes for Birmingham in over six months, in a 1–0 pre-season friendly defeat of Cork City. He then returned to La Liga with the Madrid-based Getafe for an undisclosed fee.[17] On 6 November he scored his first goal for the club as, despite having only ten players, it came from behind to beat Atlético Madrid 3–2.[18]

Míchel appeared in 60 competitive games during his three-year tenure, and was released on 22 August 2014.[19]

Maccabi Haifa

Míchel completed a move to Israeli Premier League club Maccabi Haifa in September 2014.[20]

Honours

AEK Athens

References

Infobox statistics

General

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Míchel". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
  2. ↑ "Entre Miguel y Míchel" [Between Miguel and Míchel]. El Comercio (in Spanish). 9 January 2010. Retrieved 12 February 2014.
  3. ↑ Rivera, Victor (30 November 2008). "De campeones juveniles a futbolistas de Primera" [From youth champions to top flight footballers]. La Nueva España (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 February 2014.
  4. ↑ "Gimnàstic 0–4 Sporting". ABC (in Spanish). 5 September 2005. Retrieved 12 February 2014.
  5. ↑ "Sporting Gijon 1–2 Getafe". ESPN Soccernet. 31 August 2008. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  6. ↑ "McLeish keen on Gijon midfielder". BBC Sport. 7 August 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2010.
  7. ↑ "Midfielder Michel joins Blues". Birmingham City F.C. 11 January 2010. Archived from the original on 14 January 2010.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Tattum, Colin (7 January 2010). "Birmingham City agree £3 million transfer of Sporting Gijon midfielder Michel". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
  9. ↑ Tattum, Colin (27 January 2010). "Chelsea 3, Birmingham City 0: Colin Tattum's big match verdict". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
  10. ↑ Soneji, Pranav (30 January 2010). "Birmingham 1–1 Tottenham". BBC Sport. Retrieved 31 January 2010.
  11. ↑ "Games played by Miguel Madera". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 30 January 2011.
  12. ↑ Tattum, Colin (11 January 2011). "Interest grows in Birmingham City midfielder Michel". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
  13. ↑ Ανακοίνωση [Announcement] (in Greek). AEK Athens F.C. 21 January 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
  14. ↑ "Super League 2010–2011: Skoda Ξάνθη–ΑΕΚ" (in Greek). AEK Athens F.C. 29 January 2011. Retrieved 3 February 2011.
  15. ↑ Κύπελλο 2010–2011: ΑΕΚ–Παναθηναϊκός [Cup 2010–2011: ΑΕΚ–Panathinaikos] (in Greek). AEK Athens F.C. 2 February 2011. Retrieved 10 February 2011.
  16. ↑ Economou, Tino (30 April 2011). "AEK lift Greek Cup in Athens". Greek Soccer. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
  17. ↑ "Birmingham City midfielder Michel joins Getafe". BBC Sport. 9 August 2011. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
  18. ↑ "Getafe 3–2 Atlético Madrid". ESPN Soccernet. 6 November 2011. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  19. ↑ "Míchel ya no es azulón" [Michel is not an azulón any more] (in Spanish). Getafe C.F. 22 August 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  20. ↑ Sinai, Allon (8 September 2014). "Benayoun sidelined with knee injury; Toto Cup heats up". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 8 September 2014.

External links