Rubén Navarro
Personal information
Full name Rubén Navarro Méndez
Date of birth (1978-06-06) 6 June 1978
Place of birth Sallent, Spain
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
Sallent
Valencia
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1996–1999 Valencia B 74 (21)
1997–1999 Valencia 6 (0)
1999–2001 Numancia 55 (17)
2001–2007 Alavés 178 (43)
2007–2009 Hércules 55 (22)
2009–2011 Gimnàstic 40 (6)
2011–2012 Leganés 32 (12)
Total 440 (121)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Rubén Navarro Méndez (born 6 June 1978) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a striker.

He amassed La Liga totals of 147 games and 31 goals over seven seasons, representing Valencia, Numancia and Alavés. He added 187 matches and 57 goals in the Segunda División, in a 15-year professional career.

Club career

Navarro was born in Sallent de Llobregat, Barcelona, Catalonia. A product of Valencia CF's youth system, he first appeared in La Liga on 15 June 1997 in a 2–1 home win against Real Oviedo,[1] but could never settle at his first club, moving to CD Numancia where he played two years; he scored ten league goals in his first season in Soria in spite of injury problems, helping barely avoid top-flight relegation.[2]

Subsequently, Navarro joined Deportivo Alavés after the side's runner-up exploits in the UEFA Cup.[3] He was an important attacking element for six years, three spent in the Segunda División; in three of those campaigns, he netted in double digits.[4]

Navarro signed with another team in the second tier for 2007–08, Hércules CF.[5] On 5 April 2009, as they eventually narrowly missed on promotion, he scored a hat-trick against Sevilla Atlético in an 8–0 home rout.[6]

In late June 2009, Navarro returned to his native region after nearly 15 years, signing as a free agent with Gimnàstic de Tarragona for two years.[7] On 2 September 2011, after two seasons of irregular use after which he did not have his contract renewed and was released, the 33-year-old joined CD Leganés in the Segunda División B.[8]

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.