The "other" Iniesta, unemployed

When he was 11 years old, Jonathan Valle vied with Andrés Iniesta for the title of best player of the tournament at a junior competition in Brunete. Valle's Racing Santander beat Iniesta's Albacete in the semifinals but the latter took home the award by dint of a single vote.

Later on, both youngsters received the same offer from Real Madrid and Barcelona. Iniesta elected to travel to Catalonia and the famous La Masia academy, while Valle decided to remain in Santander. Somewhere along the line Valle's path took a twist and a player considered to be one of Spain's brightest prospects this week was among 24 players currently without a team who attended a training camp in Alicante set up by the Spanish Footballers' Association (AFE).

A combination of misfortune and bad decisions has not broken Valle's will. He says he has learned more in two weeks with Sergi Barjuán as his coach than in entire seasons under others. He also says that training with other players who are effectively unemployed is "one of the best things" that could have happened to him.

His love of reading psychology and self-help books has aided him in the past seven months, during which he has been without a club after ending last season with third-tier Leganés. At the moment he is considering an offer of a trial from Russian Premier League side Rubin Kazan but he is also attracting interest from a Spanish Segunda División side.

In 1999, Valle was the revelation of the pre-season with Racing. The coach of the Cantabrian club at that time, Gustavo Benítez, took him on a pre-season trip to Holland when he was 14. When he was 16, Valle debuted for Racing in the King's Cup. Two years later, he took his Liga bow. "It was a dream. I went from asking the players for autographs to playing alongside them but, looking back, all the spotlights were on a kid and I think that ended up being detrimental."

He signed his first professional two-year contract with Racing at 17, but just seven months later the club extended it by another five years. "The first two years went very well. I was used as an impact sub in second halves and although I played the least, I ended up with two goals and more assists than anyone else." But, as is often the case, being used from the bench began to grow wearisome. "I became demoralized. I lost the desire to push myself. My problem was that I wanted to do everything too quickly."

After training for a spell with local side Noja, Valle and a former Racing teammate, Juanjo, had a trial at Watford, in the English second division. Unfortunately, there were contractual issues that could not be resolved and the players returned to Spain.

"The truth is that these six months of unemployment have done me good because now I don't view everything as negatively as I did a few years ago. Back then, I wanted to start living the same life as my friends because I was under a lot of pressure and I tried to disconnect from soccer. I didn't want to admit that, in reality, I was a professional soccer player. Now I'm just happy to carry on playing, but it is also my job." Now 27, a player who was tipped for stardom in the Spanish league still has time to revive his career, even if it turns out to be abroad. And there, if he is given the opportunity, "I'll sign a long contract."