Julián Speroni

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Julián Speroni
Personal information
Full name	Julián Maria Speroni
Date of birth	May 18, 1979 (1979-05-18) (age 30)
Place of birth	Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Crystal Palace
Number	1
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1999 2001-2004 2004-	Platense Dundee Crystal Palace	002 (0) 092 (0) 108 (0)
National team2
?	Argentina U20	00? (?)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 12:44, 3 May 2009 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 9 February 2008. * Appearances (Goals)

Julián Maria Speroni (born May 18, 1979 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine footballer who plays for Crystal Palace in The Championship. He wears the number 1 shirt and is a goalkeeper.

Contents 1 Football career 2 Club career statistics 3 Honours 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Football career

Speroni started his career with Club Atlético Platense, in his homeland, but moved after just one year as a professional, to Scottish side Dundee.

He excelled at Dundee, becoming a cult figure due to his cavalier style, often attempting to beat players using his feet. He also made himself all the more popular by vowing that he would "never join [Dundee's rivals] Dundee United".

However, with Dundee in financial trouble, Speroni ended up moving south of the border, to newly-promoted Crystal Palace, for a fee of £500,000.

On his home debut for Palace, against Everton, his erratic play would lead to him coming a cropper when, with Palace a goal up, he failed to wrong-foot Kevin Campbell while dithering on the ball when a simple clearance from a backpass was expected to be made, and having brought down the veteran striker, Thomas Gravesen converted the resulting penalty and Palace went on to lose by three goals to one. Consequently, with the Palace backline having lost confidence in their goalkeeper, the Eagles did not pick up a single point from their next four games (all in which Speroni featured), leading to him being replaced by Hungarian international Gábor Király.

Speroni found himself on the sidelines for three whole seasons as Király made the goalkeeping spot his own, until the Hungarian departed Selhurst Park at the end of the 2006-07 season. Back in the line-up Speroni flourished and won his reputation back, earning a new three-year contract at the end of the 2007-08 season and the club's "Player of the Year" award.

Manager Neil Warnock commented after another excellent goalkeeping display against Swansea, "I wouldn't swap him for anyone in the Premier League, never mind the Championship".

On 12 November 2008 Warnock said:"While I would listen to offers for everyone it would have to be something like £10million for Julian".^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Club career statistics

(correct as of 4 May 2009)

Club	Season	League			Cup[1]			Europe			Play-Offs			Total
		Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Assists
Platense	1999	2	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	0	0
Total	1999	2	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	0	0
Dundee	2001-02	17	0	0	4	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	21	0	0
Dundee	2002-03	38	0	0	8	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	46	0	0
Dundee	2003-04	37	0	0	4	0	0	4	0	0	-	-	-	45	0	0
Total	2001-2004	92	0	0	16	0	0	4	0	0	-	-	-	112	0	0
Crystal Palace	2004-05	6	0	0	2	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	8	0	0
Crystal Palace	2005-06	4	0	0	4	0	0	-	-	-	0	0	0	8	0	0
Crystal Palace	2006-07	5	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	5	0	0
Crystal Palace	2007-08	46	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	0	0	48	0	0
Crystal Palace	2008-09	45	0	2	3	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	48	0	2
Total	2004-present	106	0	2	9	0	0	-	-	-	2	0	0	117	0	2
Career totals		200	0	2	25	0	0	4	0	0	2	0	0	231	0	2

[edit] Honours

• Dundee - 2003 Scottish Cup Runners-Up Medal
• Crystal Palace - 2008 "Player of the Year"
• Crystal Palace - 2009 "Player of the Year"

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Julián Speroni player profile at cpfc.co.uk
• Julián Speroni career stats at Soccerbase
• (Spanish) BDFA profile

Preceded by Leon Cort

Crystal Palace F.C. Player of the Year 2008 & 2009

Succeeded by Incumbent

v • d • e Crystal Palace F.C. – current squad 1 Speroni · 2 Lawrence · 3 Hill · 4 Derry · 5 McCarthy · 6 Fonte · 9 Lee · 10 Carle · 11 Moses · 12 Flahavan · 14 Scannell · 15 Hills · 16 Danns · 17 Thomas · 18 Andrew · 20 Butterfield · 22 Ertl · 32 Kuqi · 35 Wiggins · 37 Pinney · 41 Djilali · 42 Comley · 43 Clyne · 44 Cadogan · — Abnett · — Adelakun · — N'Diaye · — Sears · Manager: Warnock