Julián Speroni

Football player infobox
playername = Julián Speroni


fullname = Julián Maria Speroni
nickname = Jules
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1979|5|18
cityofbirth = Buenos Aires
countryofbirth = Argentina
height = height|ft=6|in=0
weight = 11st 0lbs
currentclub = Crystal Palace
clubnumber = 1
position = Goalkeeper
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1999
2001-2004
2004-
clubs = Platense
Dundee
Crystal Palace
caps(goals) = 02 (0)
92 (0)
71 (0)
nationalyears = ?
nationalteam = Argentina U20
nationalcaps(goals) = ? (?)
pcupdate = 15:05, 4 October 2008 (UTC)
ntupdate = 9 February 2008

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

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"."

Club career statistics

:"(correct as of 4 October 2008)"

Honours

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

References

External links

* [http://www.cpfc.co.uk/page/ProfilesDetail/0,,10323~21799,00.html Julián Speroni player profile] at cpfc.co.uk
*soccerbase|id=24948|name=Julián Speroni
*es [http://www.bdfa.com.ar/jugador2.asp?codigo=3813 BDFA profile]