Football Player's Biography 7: Esteban Granero

Full name	Esteban Félix Granero Molina
Date of birth	2 July 1987 (1987-07-02) (age 23)
Place of birth	Madrid, Spain
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position	Midfielder

Esteban Félix Granero Molina (born 2 July 1987 in Madrid) is a Spanish footballer who plays for Real Madrid, as a midfielder.
A versatile element, known as El Pirata (The pirate), he can play as a playmaker or behind the strikers. His best attributes are passing, technique, and shooting

Club career

Granero joined the youth ranks of Real Madrid when he was just eight years old, and quickly began displaying his footballing talent. In one season, he scored 83 goals in the Under-10 division, and in 1999, captained the Under-12 B team that won the International Football-7 tournament held in the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona by defeating FC Barcelona 1–0 with his overtime goal. He was also named the best player of the competition.
Granero, alongside teammates Juan Mata and Alberto Bueno, won the Copa de Campeones Juvenil de Fútbol in 2006,^[1] an under-19 official youth tournament in Spain organized by the Royal Spanish Football Federation. He then joined the club's C squad, at the age of 17, standing out for his talent and passing skills, and going on to receive the Números 1 Don Balón award as the "Most Valuable Player" of the fourth division Group 7 in 2005–06, an accolade bestowed by Don Balón magazine,^[2] one of the founding members of European Sports Magazines. That same season, he made his first appearance with Real Madrid Castilla in a match against Albacete Balompié, during which he had a goal assist.

Granero made the definitive jump to Castilla in 2006–07's second division, and slowly earned the confidence of coach Míchel until finally becoming an unquestionable starter. He would eventually fail to make the transition into the first team, as fellow cantera players Rubén de la Red, Javi García and Adrián González and, on August 31, the last day of the transfer window, Granero moved to Getafe CF (also in Madrid) on a one-year loan. De la Red also joined Getafe, albeit in a different deal.
After the season's end, in which himself and de la Red were instrumental in the team's campaign, which included a quarterfinals run in the UEFA Cup, Granero returned to Real Madrid. However, on July 13, 2008, he joined Getafe permanently, with Real keeping a re-buy option on the player.^[3]
On 21 July 2009, Real Madrid exercised their buyback option, in a reported €4 million deal,^[4] and Granero scored three goals during the pre-season. His first official one came in his first start, the opener in a 3–0 La Liga away success against RCD Espanyol, on 12 September 2009.^[5] In his first season, where the Merengues eventually came out empty in silverware, he alternated the bench with starts, with irregular performances.
In the 2010–11 season, after Real Madrid purchased two players in his position, Sami Khedira and Mesut Özil, Granero was limited mainly to substitute appearances. On 16 January 2011, he came from the bench to score against UD Almería, in a 1–1 away draw against the bottom-placed team.^[6]

International career

After having helped Spain to the 2006 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship, Granero made his debut for the under-21s on 6 February 2007 in a friendly match against England (2–2).
He appeared for the nation at the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, in an eventual group stage exit.