A club the size of Villarreal are always going to be looked at as a selling club. Think teams like Southampton, West Ham and Benfica; in their own right very good clubs, but as soon as their players start performing they are sold off to the highest bidder.
With this in mind, Outside90’s Dave Blackmore examines four former Amarillo’s that took their careers to the next level following their time at El Madrigal.
Pepe Reina
After graduating from the famed La Masia academy of Barcelona, Pepe Reina had a slow start to his career. Amassing only 30 appearances for the Blaugrana first team over a three year period, Reina was told he could leave the club. At 20 years old and in search for first team football the young goalkeeper arrived at Villarreal.
Reina spent three seasons at the club, becoming first choice goalkeeper and making 109 appearances. During this spell at the club, Reina caught the eye of national coach Luis Aragones, who gave him his first cap on August 17, 2005, when he kept a clean sheet in a 2-0 win over Uruguay.
Just prior to his first international call-up, Reina would sign a contract with English giants Liverpool. Manager Rafael Benitez was a big fan of Reina’s and the transfer was worth a reported €9.8 million. In his time at Liverpool, Reina would become a Kop hero. He would win an FA Cup, a League Cup and Community Shield with the Merseysiders, as well as being a runner up in the 2006-07 Champions League.
Reina would stay at Liverpool until 2013 when a loan to Italian club Napoli would reunite him with former manager Benitez.
Diego Godin
Uruguayan International Diego Godin spent three years at El Madrigal after leaving his native South America for football in Europe.
The centre-back was purchased from Nacional by Villarreal for the small sum of €800,000. Having played over 100 first team matches over four seasons with Nacional, and before that Cerro, and having already received a start at international level, Godin came as a player with high potential.
Godin would make 106 appearances as an Amarillo and from his place in the heart of defence score four goals. At the end of his final season with the Yellow Submarine, Godin would help Uruguay reach the semi-finals of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Following his stellar World Cup performance, and that of the previous three campaigns in Spain, Godin was bought by Atletico Madrid for €8 million.
He has since gone on to play 157 league games for the Colchoneros winning a league title in 2013-14, the Copa Del Rey in 2012-13 and being a Champions League runner-up in the title winning season.
Santi Cazorla
Asturian-born Santi Cazorla began his professional career at El Madrigal at the age of nineteen. Having signed a contract from Real Oviedo Cazorla started with the B team before making the step up as a first-teamer in the successful Villarreal team of 2004-05. It was during that season that the Yellow Submarine would finish third in La Liga and earn their first direct entry into the Champions League.
During the 2005-06 season, Cazorla spent much of his time looking on from the bench as Villarreal reached the final four of the Champions League, only to be defeated by future club Arsenal.
In the following season, Cazorla would make the move to Recreativo, signing a four-year contract for a reported €600,000. Within that contract was a buyback clause (for €1.2million) which Villarreal choose to trigger after seeing the 22-year-old’s form for El Decano.
Cazorla would spend another four seasons at El Madrigal becoming a vital part of the team that would be runners-up in the 2007-08 La Liga campaign. In his 127 league appearances, he would score 23 goals and go on to receive his first international call up.
At the end of the 2010-11, in which he reached the Semi-Finals of the Europa League, Cazorla was sold to Qatari invested Malaga for a club-record fee of €21 million. He would only last one season at the club before the Gunners came calling and he moved to North London for a fee of €19 million.
During his time at the Emirates, the 30-year-old has won two FA Cups, and two Community Shields.
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Diego Forlan
Unlike the other three on this list Forlan arrived at El Madrigal not as a young man needing to be moulded into a top quality player but as a man low on confidence and with his star dropping.
Forlan started his career in his native Uruguay and after 37 goals in his 80 appearances for Independiente, signed a major contract with English heavyweights Manchester United for £6.9 million.
Life got off to a rocky start at Old Trafford and after signing in January his first 13 Premier League games returned zero goals. No better times were to be seen at the 2002 World Cup as Uruguay were knocked out in the group stages.
The 2002-03 season saw Forlan lift the Premier League trophy, but little was thought of his exploits as he only scored six goals throughout the campaign. 2003-04 saw him win an FA Cup, but his four goals from 24 matches saw him shipped out of the club.
Villarreal was to be Forlan’s new home as the Yellow Submarine paid €3.2 million for his services. On his debut for Villarreal Forlan would score and go on to do so 24 more times throughout the season making him the Pichichi Trophy winner and tied European Golden Boot.
Forlan would spend two more seasons at El Madrigal scoring 29 more Liga goals before moving to Atletico Madrid for €21 million prior to the 2007-08 season. It was during the 2008-09 season that Forlan’s 32 goals would again see him win the Pichichi and the European Golden boot.
He would continue to score goals for both club and country as his 36 goals for the Uruguayan national team make him his country’s all-time leading scorer.
Forlan is still plying his trade, the 36-year-old plays for Penarol in his hometown of Montevideo, Uruguay.
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