Ex-Manchester City, Real Madrid and Spain forward calls time on 20-year-career | OneFootball

Former Manchester City, Real Madrid and Spain forward Alvaro Negredo has announced his retirement at the age of 39, after a long and storied career. In action in Segunda as recently as last year, Negredo attempted to get back to fitness this season, but found he could not go on.

Coming through the academy at Rayo Vallecano, he made his debut in 2005 for Rayo Vallecano before making a switch to Real Madrid as a 19-year-old. Negredo would begin to make waves at Almeria in their first stint in La Liga though, and earned himself a move to Sevilla. That would spark arguably the most successful run of his career, scoring 85 goals and giving 25 assists in 180 games.

It was at Sevilla that he would make his debut for Spain, and go on to earn 21 caps, scoring an impressive 10 goals in those appearances. His impressive goalscoring record would get him another move to Manchester City for €25m, but his lack of game time restricted him to just 49 appearances in two seasons, just 29 of which were starts. He still averaged a goal every 111 minutes though, striking on 23 occasions.

Image via JOSÉ BRETÓN/ NurPhoto/ NurPhoto via AFP

A €28m move back to Spain and Valencia would kick off a more nomadic stage of his career though, turning out for Middlesborough, Besiktas, Al-Nasr, Cadiz and finally Real Valladolid last season. During his career Negredo won a Premier League, a UAE League Cup trophy, a League Cup trophy in England, a Copa del Rey with Sevilla in 2009, and most notably, Euro 2012 with Spain.

“I’m going to train to be a coach, start another challenge. I am learning at Sevilla C and we have to prepare to take care of the kids. I like to smell like grass and I don’t like offices, that’s why my idea is that,” he told Cadena Cope.

Negredo has shared the pitch and dressing rooms with many illustrious figures in recent years.

“The coach who has had the biggest impact on me is Emery, with whom I made my debut in the First Division, he trusted me a lot. The one I had the most friction with was with Nuno, at Valencia. The best teammate, Javi Varas, who is the one I have got on with best. I have not had conflicts with colleagues.”

“The one who amazed me the most is David Silva, with whom I was in Manchester. The toughest defender, Sergio Ramos and Puyol. Valencia has been very good for me when I have played against them; and I hated playing in Pamplona because I loved the atmosphere but I knew I was going to get it from all sides.”