Valencia have taken a step into securing the future of their consistently excellent left-back spot.
With many of Spain’s finest left-backs in recent years coming out of the Paterna academy in Valencia in recent years, some of the bigger clubs were looking to get ahead of the game this time. Cadete A left-back David Martinez is one of most highly-rated prospects in the Valencia academy and has already been capped by Spain’s under 16s twice.
Several clubs were interested in securing Martinez for the future, including Villarreal, Real Madrid and Chelsea. However Valencia have managed to sign him to a four-year contract according to Superdeporte, which will stave off any interest.
In the past, Juan Bernat and Jordi Alba have both come through the ranks at Valencia and have both gone on to win caps for the Spanish national team. The current holder of the left-back spot for Valencia, Jose Gaya, is perhaps Alba’s stiffest competition for first-choice in the Spain team. Gaya is also backed up by two more academy products in Toni Lato and Jesus Vazquez.
