Juan Carlos Valerón

Juan Carlos Valerón was born in Arguineguín, Gran Canaria, in 1975. After starting at Las Palmas and a season at Mallorca, he joined Atlético in 1998.

The artist

Slim, calm and astonishingly precise, Valerón saw passes that nobody else saw and played the game at his own pace. In two seasons at the Calderón he became a Spain international and one of the most admired playmakers in the country. But the club around him was in crisis, and in 2000 Atlético were relegated.

Legacy

That summer he joined Deportivo de La Coruña, where he spent the best years of his career and became an icon. His time at Atlético was short and ended badly for the club, but supporters who saw him still talk about his touch.