From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gaizka Mendieta Zabala (born March 27, 1974 in Bilbao) is a Spanish football player. He is a midfielder who currently plays for Middlesbrough of the English Premiership.

Mendieta, born in the Basque Country, 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 €43 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.

In his time at Middlesbrough FC, Mendieta was part of several memorable footballing moments including Carling Cup glory bringing Middlesbrough their first ever silverware, and also an inspriational performance against Manchester United scoring two goals. In the last two years, a string of injuries and long duration of regaining match fitness relegated Mendieta to the substitutes bench. He is out of favour with current Middlesborough boss Gareth Southgate and some of the Middlesbrough fans causing a divide within supporters. Reports link him to a January 2007 move back to Spain, perhaps returning to his hometown club Athletic Bilbao though speculation has it that Mendieta looks to be joining Malaga CF much to the excitement of the fans. However the transfer window passed without a transfer, and reports indicate Mendieta is looking for a move to the MLS, either in the summer, or sucure a release from his Middlesbrough contact, in time for the start of the MLS season.

• Gaizka Mendieta career stats at Soccerbase
• Gaizka Mendieta Polish Website
• Boro To Let Mendieta Leave
• Mendieta Primed For La Liga Return

	Spain squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup Quarter-finalists
1 Casillas | 2 Torres | 3 Juanfran | 4 Helguera | 5 Puyol | 6 Hierro | 7 Raúl | 8 Baraja | 9 Morientes | 10 Tristán | 11 de Pedro | 12 Luque | 13 Ricardo | 14 Albelda | 15 Romero | 16 Mendieta | 17 Valerón | 18 Sergio | 19 Xavi | 20 Nadal | 21 Luis Enrique | 22 Joaquín | 23 Contreras | Coach: Camacho