Martin Valjent (born 11 December 1995) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for La Liga club Mallorca and the Slovakia national team.[2]

Martin Valjent
Personal information
Full name Martin Valjent[1]
Date of birth (1995-12-11) 11 December 1995 (age 28)
Place of birth Dubnica nad Váhom, Slovakia
Height 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s) Centre-back
Team information
Current team
Mallorca
Number 24
Youth career
Dubnica
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2012–2013 Dubnica 14 (0)
2013–2017 Ternana 76 (2)
2017–2019 Chievo 0 (0)
2017–2018Ternana (loan) 38 (3)
2018–2019Mallorca (loan) 29 (0)
2019– Mallorca 163 (1)
International career
2013 Slovakia U18
2014 Slovakia U19 14 (2)
2015–2017 Slovakia U21 19 (2)
2018– Slovakia 12 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 5 June 2024
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 18:05, 10 June 2022 (UTC)

Club career

edit

Ternana

edit

At the age of 17, he joined the Italian Serie B club Ternana Calcio in the summer of 2013.[3]

Mallorca

edit

In August 2018, Valjent made a move to RCD Mallorca on loan, a prominent team in the Spanish second division.[4]

On 26 June 2019 Mallorca made a substantial investment by purchasing Valjent for 1.5 million euros. Despite Mallorca's relegation from the top league to the second division in the 2019/20 season, Valjent's effect was evident, as he scored his first goal for the club in a 2-0 victory against CD Tenerife on 3 October 2020. Valjent made a big statement in February 2021 when he extended his contract with Mallorca until 2025, emphasizing his dedication to the club.[5][6]

International career

edit

Valjent was first called up to the Slovakia national team by Ján Kozák sr. for fixtures against Netherlands and Morocco on 31 May and 4 June 2018 respectively. This was done due to Gyömbér and Štetina's injuries.[7] Valjent debuted during a match against Morocco in Geneva, replacing Tomáš Hubočan in the 79th minute.[8]

Valjent's 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 4–0.[9] It was 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.[10] In October, Valjent returned to the national team in a friendly match against Paraguay on his preferred post. 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 Hubočan and Adam Nemec. This game also coincided with a return to Tehelné pole after some ten years and concluded with a 1–1 tie.[11]

On 26 August 2020, Valjent was called up by the Slovak senior squad to take part in the two opening matches of the UEFA Nations League against the Czech Republic and Israel.[12]

Career statistics

edit

Club

edit
As of match played 27 August 2021[13]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Dubnica 2012–13[14] 2. liga 14 0 14 0
Ternana 2013–14 Serie B 6 0 0 0 6 0
2014–15 Serie B 35 0 2 0 37 0
2015–16 Serie B 25 2 2 0 27 2
2016–17 Serie B 33 0 2 0 35 0
Total 76 2 6 0 0 0 82 2
Chievo 2018–19 Serie A 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ternana (loan) 2017–18 Serie B 38 3 1 0 39 3
Mallorca (loan) 2018–19 Segunda División 29 0 2 0 4[a] 0 35 0
Mallorca 2019–20 La Liga 36 0 1 0 37 0
2020–21 Segunda División 33 1 1 0 34 1
2021–22 La Liga 3 0 0 0 3 0
Total 101 1 4 0 4 0 109 1
Career total 229 6 11 0 4 0 244 6
  1. ^ Appearance(s) in Promotion Playoffs

International

edit
As of match played 10 June 2022[14]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Slovakia 2018 1 0
2019 2 0
2020 5 0
2021 1 0
2022 3 0
Total 12 0

References

edit
  1. ^ "Acta del Partido celebrado el 14 de agosto de 2021, en Palma de Mallorca" [Minutes of the Match held on 14 August 2021, in Palma de Mallorca] (in Spanish). Royal Spanish Football Federation. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  2. ^ "Player Profile | Martin Valjent". RCD Mallorca.
  3. ^ "Seventeen-year-old Valjent moves from Dubnica to Italy" (in Slovak). sportnet.sme.sk. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  4. ^ "El Mallorca logra la cesión de Martin Valjent" (in Spanish). es.besoccer.com. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  5. ^ "Major decision by Martin Valjent! Announced on large billboards in Mallorca". Šport.sk. 24 February 2021. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  6. ^ Cabot, Ricard (26 June 2019). "El Mallorca ejecuta la opción de compra de Valjent" (in Spanish). Diario de Mallorca. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  7. ^ "Z Kozákovej nominácie vypadli Gyömbér a Štetina, nahradia ich Mihalík a Valjent". Aktuality.sk (in Slovak). 25 May 2018.
  8. ^ "Valjent v Taliansku vystriedal všetky pozície, ale neočakáva, že nahradí Pekaríka". Aktuality.sk (in Slovak). 4 September 2018.
  9. ^ "Slovenským futbalistom sa vzdialil postup na ME, s Chorvátmi vysoko prehrali". Sme (in Slovak). Petit Press. 9 September 2019.
  10. ^ "Vavro pôsobil ako malý žiak. Azda zápas nevidel tréner Lazia". Sme. Petit Press. 9 September 2019.
  11. ^ "Slováci v príprave remizovali s Paraguajom, s reprezentáciou sa rozlúčila trojica hráčov". Sme (in Slovak). Petit Press. 14 October 2019.
  12. ^ Forteza, Gabriel (26 August 2020). "Martin Valjent convocado por Eslovaquia para la Nations League" [Martin Valjent called up by the Slovak squad]. Diario AS (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  13. ^ Martin Valjent at Soccerway
  14. ^ a b Martin Valjent at National-Football-Teams.com
edit
  NODES
INTERN 5
Note 1