Ramón Rodríguez Verdejo (born 20 September 1968), commonly known as Monchi, is a Spanish retired

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

, currently

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The spor ...

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville, the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It plays in Spanish football's top flight, La Liga. Sevilla have won the UEFA Eu ...

Playing career

Born in

San Fernando, Cádiz San Fernando (, "Saint Ferdinand") is a town in the province of Cádiz, Spain. It is home to more than 97,500 inhabitants. The city also uses the name "''La Isla''" (The Island). The people from San Fernando are locally known as "''Cañaíllas''" ...

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The ...

, Monchi graduated from

's youth system. He made his senior debut with the reserves in the 1988–89 season, in

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Fo ...

. In the summer of 1990, Monchi was promoted to the main squad in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

. He first appeared in the competition on 13 January 1991, starting in a 1–1 away draw against

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septemb ...

. Monchi spent the vast majority of his career as a backup to Juan Carlos Unzué, only featuring more regularly from 1995 onwards. He played a career-best 26 matches in 1996–97, as the campaign ended in relegation. Monchi retired in 1999 aged only 30, after contributing 20 games – playoffs included – to his team's promotion.

Sporting director

In 2000, after Sevilla were relegated from the top division, Monchi was appointed their

. He was given two objectives by the board: develop the club's youth system and implement a vast scouting policy inside and outside Spain. Monchi helped discover Diego Capel,

Alberto Moreno Alberto Moreno Pérez (; born 5 July 1992) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a left-back for La Liga club Villarreal. An academy graduate of local side Sevilla, he made his senior debut for the club's reserve side in 2011 ...

Jesús Navas Jesús Navas González (; born 21 November 1985) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a right winger or a right-back for La Liga club Sevilla. He has spent the vast majority of his career with Sevilla, playing 605 official ma ...

Antonio Puerta Antonio José Puerta Pérez (; 26 November 1984 – 28 August 2007) was a Spanish professional footballer who played solely for Sevilla. Mainly a left midfielder who could also operate as an attacking left-back, he died on 28 August 2007 affec ...

Sergio Ramos Sergio Ramos García (; born 30 March 1986) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain and the Spain national team. Known for his aggressive play, he is widely regarded as one of the g ...

and

José Antonio Reyes José Antonio Reyes Calderón (; 1 September 1983 – 1 June 2019) was a Spanish professional footballer who played mainly as a left winger and also as a forward. He made his debut for Sevilla aged 16 and signed for English club Arsenal in J ...

, and he also created a network of over 700 scouts around the world. Within this setup, he sourced a number of profitable bargains (including Adriano,

Dani Alves Daniel Alves da Silva (born 6 May 1983), known simply as Dani Alves (), is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Liga MX club UNAM and the Brazil national team. Widely considered one of the greatest full-backs of ...

Júlio Baptista Júlio César Clemente Pereira Baptista (born 1 October 1981) is a Brazilian football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder or a forward. He is the current manager of Valladolid B. Baptista is nicknamed "The Beast" ...

Federico Fazio Federico Julián Fazio (born 17 March 1987) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a central defender for Italian club Salernitana. He began his career at Ferro Carril Oeste, signing for Sevilla in 2007. He made 201 official appear ...

, Seydou Keita and

Ivan Rakitić Ivan Rakitić (; born 10 March 1988) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a central or attacking midfielder for La Liga club Sevilla. Rakitić started his professional career at Basel and spent two seasons with them before he was s ...

), making a profit of around €200 million in the transfer market, as the club established itself in the top half of the top division in his 16 years there. Monchi asked to leave Sevilla in the 2016 off-season, but the board did not accept his request unless he paid his €5 million buyout clause. He left in April 2017, having helped win 11 trophies during his tenure. Later that month, he signed a four-year contract in the same role with A.S. Roma in Italy's

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Copp ...

. On 17 March 2019, Monchi confirmed that he would be returning to Sevilla as sporting director the following month.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Monchi 1968 births Living people People from San Fernando, Cádiz Sportspeople from the Province of Cádiz Spanish footballers Footballers from Andalusia Association football goalkeepers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Sevilla Atlético players Sevilla FC players Sevilla FC non-playing staff A.S. Roma non-playing staff Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Italy

Playing career

Sporting director

See also

References

External links