Joseba Llorente


Joseba Llorente Etxarri is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a centre forward.
He amassed La Liga totals of 179 games and 50 goals over the course of ten seasons, representing in the competition Real Sociedad, Valladolid, Villarreal and Osasuna. He added 142 matches and 55 goals in the Segunda División, mainly in the service of Eibar.

Club career

Born in Hondarribia, Basque Country, Llorente came through the ranks of Real Sociedad, making his debut for the first team on 3 October 1999 against Real Zaragoza. He would however, only amass 23 appearances in four seasons, and left in 2003 for another side in his native region, SD Eibar in the second division, where he already had served a loan stint early into the 2000–01 campaign.
For 2005–06, Llorente joined Real Valladolid also in that tier, and scored 12 league goals in his debut campaign. He added 17 to help the side achieve promotion the following year.
On 20 January 2008, in a match against RCD Espanyol, Llorente broke the Spanish league record for the fastest goal ever scored, beating Dario Silva's previous record at 8. He broke through that season aged almost 29, netting 16 goals to help the team retain top flight status, including a hat-trick against Recreativo de Huelva on the 13th.
On 26 May 2008, Llorente agreed a four-year deal with Villarreal CF, leaving Valladolid for an undisclosed fee. He scored his first goal for the club in a 2–1 win at CD Numancia on 21 September; exactly one month later, he put three past AaB Football in a UEFA Champions League 6–3 home win.
On 10 March 2009, after just minutes on the pitch, Llorente scored the winner against Panathinaikos FC in an eventual 2–1 away win in the Champions League quarter-finals' second leg. His first season at Villarreal was highly productive as he netted a squad-best 15 league goals, including two at FC Barcelona in a 3–3 draw on 10 May, postponing the Catalans' title-winning celebrations for a further week.
On 16 June 2010, after another good year with the Valencians, Llorente moved again to Real Sociedad – freshly returned to the first division – penning a four-year contract worth €2.5 million. In his official debut, on 29 August, he assisted Xabi Prieto with a backheel for the game's only goal, at home against former side Villarreal; in mid-January 2011, however, after suffering a back injury, he was sidelined for the remainder of the season.

Club statistics