The best midfielder in Europe destroyed by transfer? The mystery of the fall of the king of Bats Mendita

In the summer of 2001, world football was in full swing, and record-breaking transfers emerged one after another. Zidane's transfer to Real Madrid set a transfer record in world football at that time, and Buffon also broke the goalkeeper's transfer record. Looking at the top ten transfers that year, most of them were successful, although there were many failure cases like Peron and Saviola. But the most failed transfer is Mendeta's transfer to Lazio, which is even enough to compete for the most failed transfer in history.

Gaizka Mendieta was born on March 27, 1974, and debuted at the Castellón Football Club (CD Castellón). In the summer of 1992, 18-year-old Mendeta was signed by Valencia and made his debut in the 1993 match against Cadiz. In the following seasons, Mendeta grew rapidly and gradually became Valencia's main player. But due to the team's strength, Mendeta was just a main player of a second-rate club at this time. In the summer of 1997, Ranieri took Valencia's coaching stick. The Italians' transformation of the Bat Legion was all-round, and Mendeta's talent was also inspired. He made 33 appearances in various competitions and scored 10 goals, which is more than the total of goals he scored in all previous seasons. In the 98/99 season, Mendeta handed over 11 goals and 9 assists in 46 games, helping Valencia win the King's Cup championship that season. In the final match of the Chinese Cup RE, Mendeta contributed 1 goal and 1 assist. His outstanding performance also made Men Dietta knock on the door to the national team. In the summer of 1999, Ranieri went to Atletico Madrid and Argentine Cooper became the new coach of Valencia. Mendita did not decline due to the change of coach, but instead took it to the next level. In the 99/00 season, Mendeta delivered a 51-game record of 18 goals and 6 assists, leading the team to win the Spanish Super Cup and leading the team to the Champions League finals historic. In the 200/01 season, Mendeita's data was 14 goals and 11 assists in 47 games, and it also opened its first record for the team in the Champions League final against Bayern. Unfortunately, Valencia lost to Bayern in a penalty shootout and won the second place in the Champions League for two consecutive years.

Those two years were definitely the highlight of Mendeta's career. He also played as the absolute main player in the 2000 European Championships. There are still many people who are absolutely sure that if Mendeta had not been replaced early in the quarter-finals of that event, he would have been the penalty kicked by Raul at the last moment of the game.

's outstanding performance made Mendeta named "The Best Midfielder in Europe" for two consecutive years. At that time, Zidane probably only had the only one who could overshadow him. But winning the second place in the Champions League for two consecutive years also made Mendeta feel unwilling to accept it. If he wanted to win more honors, he naturally had the idea of transfer.

Mendeta, who entered the transfer market, was naturally a popular celebrity. Real Madrid, who was determined to form the Galaxy battleship at that time, was also quite interested in him. But there were many difficulties in transferring Real Madrid. First of all, Real Madrid's primary goal was Zidane, and he enjoyed the financial pressure of attracting Mendeta at the same time. The bigger obstacle is the bad relationship between Real Madrid and Valencia. When he was forced to dig Miatovic, Valencia almost no longer traded players with Real Madrid. What's more, Valen had a very ambitious ambition at that time, and it was impossible for him to weaken himself while strengthening his opponent.

At this time, playing football abroad became the only choice, and there was not much choice for Mendeta. Considering Mendeta's status at that time, there is no need to consider the Premier League, Bundesliga and others. After all, the Premier League's attractiveness to top stars was still very limited at that time, and Serie A became Mendeta's only choice. With Juventus introducing Nedved and AC Milan taking Rui Costa, Lazio, who had just lost Peron and Nedved, became Mendeta's next home, so Mendeta joined Lazio at the third highest price that year.

From the perspective of that year, this transaction should be a sure profit without losing money. Nedved's characteristic at that time was to sprint back and forth on the wing and middle, then respond, assist, and cut in and shoot; as for Perron, he controlled the ball in the middle circle, then organized and sorted out the attack. At first glance, these are all the characteristics and advantages of Mendeta at that time, so I would like to ask everyone if it was appropriate to buy Mendeta at that time. Moreover, from the perspective of tactical system configuration, Lazio seems to be somewhat similar to Valencia at that time.

But the reality is Mendeta's success in Valencia, thanks to the libero's playing style in the frontcourt, he can create opportunities through large-scale running. In this case, the cooperation of the whole team is crucial. To put it bluntly, the whole team is serving him alone, leaving Mendeta completely without any constraints, let alone assume defensive responsibilities. However, when we come to the Serie A League, which emphasizes tactical discipline, it is difficult for Mendeta to have room to play, and it is not favored by the head coach. Even though Mendeta still wants to play like this, his teammates are all old players in the Serie A League. Spain can't understand the game at all, and there is no way to talk about their cooperation with Mendeta. As for fixing him on the right and allowing him to break through, it made him feel more and more uncomfortable. With high transfer fees and unfamiliar environment, Mendieta's performance is also becoming more and more struggling. In the end, Mendeta only handed out bleak data of 2 assists this season.

Poor performance affected Mendeta's status in the national team. Although he participated in the 2002 World Cup, he has changed from being a thigh to being useless. If he wants to save his career, Mendeta must make changes. It was in this summer that Lazio's financial crisis completely stormed, so naturally it was impossible to afford "parallel goods" like Mendieta. So in the 202/03 season, Mendeta did not send it back to Spain and was loaned to Barcelona..

It's a pity that Mendeta's time to come to Barcelona was not good. At that time, Barcelona was in turmoil, and the team even experienced two coaches of Van Gaal and Antić. Although Mendeta got a lot of opportunities to play, he was more of a defensive engineer. Although the data of 49 games, 6 games and 7 assists seem to have rebounded, in fact, Mündita is still far from its peak. With Laporta taking office, it is imperative to clean up the remnants of the previous dynasty. It is naturally impossible for a player like Mendieta to stay on loan and perform on average.

was returned by Barcelona, and Lazio had to rent Mendeta out again. In the summer of 2003, Middlesbroughs became Mendeita's next. In his first season at Miburg, Mendeta seemed to have shown signs of rebirth, with 3 goals and 9 assists in 38 games in various competitions, helping the team win the League Cup that season. At the end of the season, Mendeta also officially transferred to Mibao.

Just as Mendita was looking forward to Nirvana and rebirth, his injuries came to him, including severe injuries such as cruciate ligament tear. Now that things have come to this point, anyone understands that Mendieta, who is over thirty years old, can no longer return to the peak. In the repeated struggles with injuries, Mendeta and Mibao's contract also expired in 2008, and retirement became the best choice for Mendeta, who was exhausted both physically and mentally.

Looking at the world football world, it is indeed rare to suddenly fall from a peak to a valley like Mendieta. In fact, if you look at Mendeita's way of playing, you will find that as long as he transfers, even if he doesn't go to Lazio, he will probably end like this. It is difficult for the midfielder to survive in a giant team with absolute core playing with a lot of freedom. Mendeta's peak may have long been doomed to his lower limit unless he never leaves Valencia for the rest of his life.