Martin Valjent

Martin Valjent (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈmaɾtiɱ ˈʋaljɛnt]; born 11 December 1995) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Segunda División club RCD Mallorca.[1]

Martin Valjent
Personal information
Full name Martin Valjent
Date of birth (1995-12-11) 11 December 1995
Place of birth Dubnica nad Váhom, Slovakia
Height 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s) Centre back
Club information
Current team
 Mallorca
Number 24
Youth career
Dubnica
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2012–2013 Dubnica 14 (0)
2013–2017 Ternana 100 (2)
2017–2019 Chievo 0 (0)
2017–2018 → Ternana (loan) 38 (3)
2018–2019 → Mallorca (loan) 33 (0)
2019– Mallorca 53 (1)
National team‡
2013 Slovakia U18
2014 Slovakia U19 14 (2)
2015–2017 Slovakia U21 19 (2)
2018– Slovakia 8 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 27 January 2021
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 14 October 2020

Career

Ternana Calcio

He made his professional debut for Ternana[2] against Varese on 28 September 2013.

Chievo Verona

In 2017, the defender signed for Chievo Verona just to be sent on loan to his former club for the 2017/18 season.

Mallorca

In August 2018, Valjent moved on loan to Mallorca to reinforce the Balearic defense during the 2018/19 Segunda División campaign.[3] On 26 June 2019, following Mallorca’s promotion to La Liga, the club exercised the option to buy the Slovak for €1.5 million.[4]

International career

Valjent was first called up to Slovakia's A-team by Ján Kozák sr. for a double fixture against Netherlands and Morocco on 31 May and 4 June respectively. He was additionally nominated as a result of Gyömbér's (rescheduled club fixture) and Štetina's (injury) unavailability. Although Valjent was benched in the home fixture against Netherlands (1–1), he replaced Tomáš Hubočan in the 79th minute of the fixture against Morocco in Geneva, to mark his debut in Slovakia's senior national team. He was fielded when the score was 1–2 and Slovakia failed to equalize the game.

His first competitive start came in a Euro 2020 qualifying fixture against Croatia on 6 September 2019 in Trnava, with Valjent playing as a right-back. Slovakia lost the game 0-4.[5] It was noted, that Valjent had a difficult task in defending Dejan Lovren at the side-line, as his preferred post is the one of a centre-back.[6] In October, Valjent returned to the national team in a friendly against Paraguay on his preferred post. This time his performance was reported on very positively, receiving praise from RTVS' commentary expert Marián Zeman during the farewell game for Martin Škrtel, with whom he starred in the starting XI, as well as Tomáš Hubočan and Adam Nemec. This game also coincided with a return to Tehelné pole after some 10 years and concluded with a 1-1 tie.[7]

On August 26, 2020, the Mallorca defender was called up by the Slovakia national team to take part in the 2 opening matches of the UEFA Nations League against Czech Republic and Israel[8]

References
  1. "Martin Valjent player profile". (official website).
  2. VARESE VS. TERNANA 2 - 1 28.09.2013, soccerway.com
  3. "Martin Valjent moves on loan to Mallorca". 20 August 2018.
  4. "Mallorca exercises buy option for Martin Valjent".
  5. a.s, Petit Press. "Slovenským futbalistom sa vzdialil postup na ME, s Chorvátmi vysoko prehrali". sport.sme.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 2019-09-09.
  6. a.s, Petit Press. "Vavro pôsobil ako malý žiak. Azda zápas nevidel tréner Lazia". sport.sme.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 2019-09-09.
  7. a.s, Petit Press. "Slováci v príprave remizovali s Paraguajom, s reprezentáciou sa rozlúčila trojica hráčov". sport.sme.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 2019-10-14.
  8. "Martin Valjent called up by the Slovak squad". 26 August 2020. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
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