Albert Luque

Albert Luque (born March 11 1978) in Catalonia, Spain. He is a football player from Spain. He can play as either an attacking midfielder (left) or a striker. He currently plays for Newcastle United F.C. coming from Deportivo de La Coruña. He transferred from Real Mallorca in 2002 in a deal worth €15 million, plus strikers Turu Flores & Walter Pandiani (on loan)

A lifelong supporter of FC Barcelona, he started out in football on trial with them, but manager Louis van Gaal didn't consider him good enough and he was released from Barcelona's youth system at the age of 19.

He was taken on by Real Mallorca's B-team in 1998, but broke through to the first team after a successful loan spell at Málaga the following year, where he made 23 La Liga appearences and scored 5 goals. Scoring 9 goals for Mallorca in the 2000-2001 season helped them qualify for the UEFA Champions League pre-round for the first time in their history by finishing third. Luque’s extra-time goal in the qualifying round against Hajduk Split in the summer of 2001 that carried Mallorca into the first group stage.

The following year he scored 14 goals and earned himself a place in Spain's World Cup squad. He made his international debut on 12 June, 2002 and appeared twice as a substitute in the Far East, coming on in the matches against South Africa and the Republic of Ireland. He made a brief appearance, out of position on the right-wing for Spain in Euro 2004.

In his first season at Deportivo, he scored the memorable winning goal against his former club Málaga with a bicycle kick. That season Luque scored other winners against Athletic Bilbao, Santander and Espanyol. He scored a total of 12 goals in that season, although mostly from substitute appearances.

The 2003-2004 season saw Luque's real breakthrough into Deportivo's first team. He scored the winner against Rosenborg in the Champions League qualifying round that summer. He also scored important goals against PSV Eindhoven, Juventus and Milan.

In 2005, Luque was sold to Newcastle United for a fee of £9.5 Million.

Clubs

• Real Mallorca (1998-1999)
• Málaga (1999-2000)
• Real Mallorca (2000-2002)
• Deportivo La Coruna (2002-2005)
• Newcastle United (2005-)

Source

Some of the information herein was taken from the unofficial Deportivo club site: http://www.deportivo-la-coruna.com