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Marca out-factchecking me. Carlos Aranda - Two UCL titles, eight La Liga clubs, and unemployment. (1st June 2017)

I would like to start with an apology.

On two different occasions on this blog (here and here), I mentioned something to this effect:

"Jordi Gómez, Cristaldo, Gazzaniga, Tomás Mejías and Pablo Iñiguez will return to their parent clubs, and Miku, Baena, Ebert, Embarba, Lass Bangoura, Quini, Nacho, Raț, Manucho, Amaya, Aguirre, Dorado, Dovale and Toño are all out of contract.

Basically, unless there are any contract extensions, we have no goalkeepers, a center-back (Zé Castro), a left-back (Johan Mojica), a right-back (Ernesto Galán), two central midfielders (Fran Beltrán and Roberto Trashorras), an attacking midfielder (Santi Comesaña), a left winger (Álex Moreno) and a striker (Javi Guerra)."


I naively used transfermarkt.com in writing that - never doing that again.

Marca recently came up with a list of contracts expiring at the end of the season, and it reads more like this:

"Cristaldo, Gazzaniga, Tomás Mejías and Pablo Iñiguez will return to their parent clubs, and Miku, Baena, Ebert, Quini, Nacho, Manucho, Jordi Gómez, Dorado and Dovale are all out of contract.

Basically, unless there are any contract extensions, we have a goalkeeper who hasn't played for a year (Toño), two center-backs (Zé Castro, Amaya), two left-backs (Johan Mojica* and
Raț), a right-back (Ernesto Galán), two central midfielders (Fran Beltrán and Roberto Trashorras), an attacking midfielder (Santi Comesaña), four wingers (Embarba, Lass, Aguirre and Álex Moreno) and a striker (Javi Guerra)."

*Returning from loan. Also, Marca never mentioned him, but he did sign a four-year deal on joining the club in 2014.

That's thirteen players out of a current squad of 26 will leave, and thirteen, along with Mojica, are certain to have a contract for next season.


So I apologise for that - and I'll make sure I check my sources from now on. Like *gulp* Marca. I've also added correction notices on the current blog posts so that there is no confusion.



On November 5, 2016, a player who hadn't played for over a year joined his first ever club - a Tercera outfit called El Palo. Obviously, this was an ordinary signing.

But the player El Palo signed was no ordinary player.

Carlos Aranda was born in Málaga, Andalusia. He trained with El Palo before being snapped up by Real Madrid, from where he graduated. He never appeared in any La Liga matches with the first team; however, he played a small part in two UEFA Champions League-winning squads, appearing against Molde FK (1999–2000) and FC Lokomotiv Moscow (2001–02).

In January 2002, Aranda moved to Numancia, being instrumental in helping the Soria club barely retain its second division status. This prompted a move at the end of the season to Villarreal on a five-year deal but, as opportunities were scarce, he returned to Numancia in January 2003.

Aranda joined Sevilla in 2004–05, scoring in his UEFA Cup debut, a 2–0 home win over Alemannia Aachen on 4 November 2004. He was relatively used during the campaign, but was deemed surplus to requirements after the arrivals of Luís Fabiano, Frédéric Kanouté and Javier Saviola, and left for Albacete Balompié on loan – he had already represented the Castile-La Mancha team in the 2003–04 season.

Aranda's second spell with Albacete finished on a sour note, as he was accused of unprofessional behaviour by the club. He responded claiming he had been forced to appear at a press conference to show repentance for his actions.

After being instrumental in Real Murcia's return to the top flight in 2007 by netting 11 goals, squad second-best behind Iván Alonso, Aranda had an unassuming spell with Granada 74 CF. After spending the first months of 2008–09 training with lowly CF Gavà, he signed in December 2008 with Numancia for a third stint, appearing and scoring regularly but eventually suffering first division relegation.

On 16 July 2009, Aranda moved to Osasuna as part of a deal that saw Enrique Sola move in the opposite direction, on loan for a season. In his second year with the Navarrese, he scored four times but also struggled with injuries and loss of form, and Sola also returned to the team's setup, eventually finishing as top scorer.

In July 2011, aged 31, Aranda signed for Levante. In January of the following year, after having received very little playing time, he switched to fellow league side Real Zaragoza; on 25 February 2012, he put the visitors ahead at hometown's Málaga, who eventually won it 5–1.

Aranda switched clubs again in the winter transfer window of 2013, signing for his eighth in La Liga (nine if you count Real Madrid), Granada, the most for any player.

He went on to play for Las Palmas and Numancia in the Segunda, but was released by the latter club in February 2015.

Over a year of unemployment later, Carlos Aranda is back where he started.

His local team, El Palo.




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