Football Player's Biography 7: Álvaro Negredo

Full name	Álvaro Negredo Sánchez
Date of birth	August 20, 1985 (1985-08-20) (age 25)
Place of birth	Madrid, Spain
Height	1.86 m

Álvaro Negredo Sánchez (born August 20, 1985) is a Spanish footballer who plays for Sevilla FC as a striker.
Nicknamed La fiera de Vallecas (The beast of Vallecas), his career was associated with Real Madrid, although he could never become a part of its first-team setup, going on to represent other teams in his country.

Club career

Real Madrid

Born in Madrid, Negredo started his career at local Rayo Vallecano, making his professional debuts in early 2005, with the team by then in the third level. He switched during that summer to another side in the country's capital, as he ended his formation in Real Madrid affiliate Real Madrid Castilla, from 2005–07.
In his last season, Negredo developed as a striker, scoring 36 league goals, although he could not prevent Castilla's drop from the second division. He impressed the first team's coach Fabio Capello, and was called for a few Real matches in the Spanish Cup, but stayed unused on the bench. Finally, he made his debut for the first team in a friendly against Atlético Madrid.

Almería

In July 2007, Negredo was sold to La Liga newcomers UD Almería, with Real Madrid having an option to rebuy. He made his topflight debut on August 26, in a 3–0 shock win at Deportivo de La Coruña. On 2 February 2008, he scored from the spot in a 2–0 home win against his former team.^[1] On April 19, in a 4–1 away success against UEFA Cup and domestic cup holders Sevilla FC, he added two, after having missed a penalty kick.
Negredo finished the season as Almería's topscorer with 13 goals, as the side from Andalusia finished 8th. In 2008–09, he netted five in the side's first six matches, including a 95' minute scored against neighbours Recreativo de Huelva (1–0), on September 28, 2008. In February of the following year, he scored a brace against Valencia CF, which took his league tally to 10, albeit in a 2–3 away loss. He finished the campaign at 19, with the club producing a slightly less successful season.

Real Madrid return/Sevilla

Real Madrid exercised their buyback option of a reported €5 million on Negredo during the summer of 2009,^[2] and the player returned to first team training with the club, on July 10, 2009.^[3]^[4] In the pre-season, he scored the fourth goal against LDU Quito, in a 4–2 Peace Cup win.^[5]
Negredo had been tipped to join Real Zaragoza or Hull City, but finally decided to sign a reported five-year deal with Sevilla for €15 million, with Real Madrid having an option to rebuy the player in the first two years.^[6]^[7]
Negredo made his debut for Sevilla on 31 August 2009, against Valencia CF, coming as a substitute in the 37th minute on a 0–2 away loss. Two weeks later, on his second appearance, he scored his first goal for Sevilla, against CA Osasuna, in a 2–0 away success.^[8]
A starter throughout most of 2009–10, with Luís Fabiano and Frédéric Kanouté fighting for the other striker berth, Negredo's first season was highly irregular. He suffered a scoring drought that lasted (in the league alone) 12 games, only ending on May 2, 2010, in a 3–1 home win against Atlético Madrid, his two goals coming from penalties (he had already lost his starting position at the time, but the Malian was suspended for that game); he added another brace the following match, a 5–1 away routing of Racing de Santander, for a total of 11 in the league (another in the UEFA Champions League). He was also sent off three times in the season, the last of which almost prevented his participation in the domestic cup final against Atlético de Madrid, after insulting the assistant referee in Sevilla's 3–2 win at former club Almería (the ban was later lifted and he was allowed to play – Fabiano was unavailable for the match through injury – in the 2–0 final win).^[9]

International career

On October 6, 2009, Negredo received his first call to the Spanish senior team by manager Vicente del Bosque, for a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Armenia (on the 10th), following the injuries of David Villa and Daniel Güiza. He made his debut replacing Fernando Torres early in the second half, in an eventual 2–1 away win.
Four days later, Negredo started and scored twice (also providing two assists) in another away fixture, against Bosnia and Herzegovina (5–2 triumph), as Spain eventually won all ten group matches. He was, however, overlooked for the final stages in South Africa, with the national team winning the tournament.