Gaizka Mendieta

Gaizka Mendieta Zabala (born March 27, 1974 in Bilbao) is a Spanish-Basque midfielder, who currently plays for Middlesbrough of the English Premiership. He is considered to be one of the best penalty shooters today.

Mendieta started his club career with Castellón in 1991 and moved to Valencia a year later. He became one of the most sought-after players in Europe after leading his club to two consecutive Champions League finals in 2000 and 2001. That led to a £29 million transfer to Lazio in 2001, but Mendieta disappointed in Serie A, spending only a year with the Rome club. He was loaned out to Barcelona for the 2002-03 season, and then to Middlesbrough for 2003-04. The latter move was later made permanent. For Spain, Mendieta has been capped 40 times (as of 2005), scoring eight goals. He played for his country at Euro 2000 and the 2002 World Cup.

As a Middlesbrough player, Mendieta was part of the team that won the 2004 Carling Cup, the club's first ever major trophy. After a season of adjusting to the English Premiership, he was expected to make a huge impact in his second season. However, an anterior cruciate ligament injury ruled him out for most of the campaign.

The 2005-06 season was a modest one for Middlesbrough and consequently for Mendieta. But Mendieta did put in some consistent performances for Boro including the stellar role in the 4-1 thrashing of Manchester United in which Mendieta scored a brace and practically single-handedly destroyed Manchester United. However injury struck again in April, and a fractured metatarsal kept him out of the end of the season, and is expected to keep him out of the start of the 2006-07 season.

At his best Mendieta can be seen as the most creative player in the world and at times shows glimpses of his Valencia and Barcelona days at Middlesbrough F.C.

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