Antonio Valencia doesn't wear the iconic No 7 shirt but he has filled Cristiano Ronaldo's boots brilliantly

Fuente: www.dailymail.co.uk 

1 His full name is Luis Antonio Valencia Mosquera. His nickname Tono Maravilla means ‘The Marvel Tono’. The moniker was given to him by Orlando Narvaez, a coach from his first club El Nacional, who also gave Birmingham’s Christian Benitez his nickname ‘Chucho’. 

2 Valencia was born on August 4, 1985, in Nueva Loja, aka Lago Agrio, the largest residential area in the Amazonian jungle in Ecuador. It was founded in the 1960s as a base camp for Texaco, who still extract oil from the region. 

3 The Valencia family sold drinks outside Lago Agrio’s Carlos Vernaza stadium near their bungalow in the district of Guayaquil. The young Valencia, one of seven children — six sons and a daughter — helped by trawling the streets for discarded bottles that his father sold to a bottle-deposit company. 

4 Pedro ‘Papi’ Perlaza, once of Barcelona, spotted the slim young boy playing barefoot on a dusty field near his home. The kid was raw but had obvious natural talent and Perlaza loved the way he effortlessly won possession on the scorched ground. By coincidence, Perlaza had been asked to run a football academy in Sucumbios to find the best youngsters in the region. He signed Valencia that afternoon and spent four years improving his skills on pitches often flooded by monsoon rains. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1266352/Antonio-Valencia-doesnt-wear-iconic-No-7-shirt-filled-Cristiano-Ronaldos-boots-brilliantly.html#ixzz0mNhmXT4f 

5 Perlaza said: ‘He was a great player and very strong, although his brother Edder was in even better condition. But Luis Antonio has always been disciplined and wanted glory. I always said he was going to be a pro footballer but, at first, Antonio had no pressure hitting the ball. But patience and dedication paid off. I remember we would put 14 balls in a line and make him hit seven dishes in the goal without a goalkeeper. This work paid off.’

6 The pair lost contact, but when Valencia returned to Lago Agrio in July and played in a charity match with the many graduates who have been nurtured by ‘The Daddy’, he invited Perlaza to an international match in Quito. Valencia met Perlaza and talked for hours. Valencia arranged to send equipment to his mentor’s latest football school in Esmeraldas.

7 At 16, Valencia moved to Quito and joined the army club Club Deportivo El Nacional on a monthly salary of £34. Within a year, he was fast-tracked into the Under 20s, where he played alongside Birmingham striker Christian ‘Chucho’ Benitez and scored 20 goals in 84 matches.

8 Valencia’s idol was Edison Mendez, now a winger with PSV Eindhoven. He made his El Nacional debut in the same team as his hero and the pair still play for the national team together, operating on opposite flanks. Valencia has 34 international caps.

9 The young Valencia moved to the barracks in the capital without his father’s knowledge. His mother packed his suitcase and sent him on a bus. ‘We thought he [his father] would never say yes because he wanted me to stay with the family and finish my studies,’ said Valencia. ‘He was looking around the house asking where I was. Eventually, they plucked up the courage to tell him after two days and when he calmed down he realised it was for the best. I was in tears when I went. It was so young to be leaving home.’

10 His girlfriend Zoila gave birth to Domenik during the 2006 World Cup finals. His daughter’s name is tattooed on the inside of his right arm.
11 Valencia made his debut for Ecuador in March 2005 and scored twice in a 5-2 win over Paraguay which sealed qualification to the World Cup in Germany. That summer he joined Villarreal with Argentine goalkeeper Mariano Barbosa.
12 He made just two appearances for the Spanish club, ironically struggling to settle because of the large numbers of Argentines at the club. He was farmed out to second division Recreativo Huelva and helped them to promotion.
13 So impressive was Valencia’s performances at the 2006 World Cup, he was in the running for young player of the tournament with Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and eventual winner Lukas Podolski. He was also spotted by Wigan boss Paul Jewell.
14 Paul Jewell: ‘I was scouting for Wigan at Poland v Ecuador and I thought I might see some Poles of interest — when you’re manager of Wigan you don’t expect to be scouting Ecuadoreans. But Ecuador won 2-0 and there was one player who stood out — Valencia. I liked his reading of the game. I was surprised he was only 20. His game was much more mature.’
15 Wigan paid Villarreal a £1.5million loan fee and he signed for one season. ‘He arrived on a Friday and we had a pre-season friendly on the Saturday,’ said Jewell. ‘Without having trained, he came on for 20 minutes and straight away the lads could see he was a player. And I liked him, we all did, he always came in smiling.’





Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1266352/Antonio-Valencia-doesnt-wear-iconic-No-7-shirt-filled-Cristiano-Ronaldos-boots-brilliantly.html#ixzz0mNr0qiAy