Jordi Alba is a Left Back for Catalan club FC Barcelona. Alba’s journey to professional football was one of many ups and downs, initially discarded by the Barca Youth Team coaches for his small stature, Alba had to move to less fancied sides where, with a dint of hard work, he has proven his doubters wrong and evolved into one of the best-attacking full-backs in the world of football.
Jordi Alba’s Bio
Jordi Alba was born on the 21st of March 1989 in Barcelona to parents Miguel Abla and Maria Jose. He joined a neighborhood Club Hospitalense in 1996, the next year he was spotted by Barcelona scouts and was snapped up by the La Masia youth academy of Barcelona. After spending eight years at the Academy, in 2005 he was deemed not to be good enough physically and hence joined Cornellà.
After two years at Cornellà, in 2007, he was signed by Valencia for €6,000. He didn’t make his La Liga debut until 13 September 2009. Due to injuries to defenders at the club, Jordi Alba was presented with more first-team opportunities. His attacking nous meant he possessed the flexibility to be deployed further upfield by coach Unai Emery.
By the 2010 season, Alba had become an integral member of the Valencia team, helping the Club finish in the third spot. Under Emery’s tutelage, Alba improved the defensive side of his game, thus becoming a more complete fullback. In the 2011 season, Jordi Alba cemented his position as Valencia’s first-choice left-back, on the back of a string of impressive performances; the major European Clubs began circling around for his signature.
The lure of rejoining his former team was too strong to be turned down and on 28th June 2012, Alba signed a five-year contract with FC Barcelona, for a transfer fee in the region of €14 million. He made his debut against Real Sociedad on 19th August 2012. In his first season at Barcelona, under coach Tito Villanova, the club wrestled back the La Liga title from Real Madrid.
On 2nd June 2015, in response to his rising stock and as a reward for impressive performances, Jordi Alba was offered a five-year extension to his contract with Barcelona. With a weekly salary of £100,000, his new deal runs out in 2020 with a buyout clause of €150 million.
Six days after signing his new deal, he scored in the UEFA Champions League final against Italian Club Juventus, helping the club to a hat-trick of titles for the season. Barca won the Champions League, the Copa del Rey, and the UEFA Super Cup.
Blessed with blistering pace, Jordi Alba’s game is based on his sound technical ability and constant forays into the attacking third. With the role of fullbacks becoming more important for coaches in the modern wave of inverted attacking playmakers, Jordi is a tactical asset to any manager, owing to his ability to stretch defenses and provide his team with much-needed width.
Jordi Alba has featured for Spain at under-19, under-20 levels. He was part of the Spanish team at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
He got his first senior national team call-up in September 2011 for the Euro qualifiers against Scotland and the Czech Republic. He made his full debut against Scotland, a game where he provided an assist for David Silva’s goal.
Jordi Alba was an integral member of the Spanish National Team that won the Euro In 2012. In 2014, Alba was part of the Spanish Team that attempted to defend its World Cup title at the tournament hosted in Brazil, the campaign ended in disaster as they were embarrassingly knocked out at the group stage of the tournament.
Jordi Alba Girlfriend, Wife
Born on the 10th of May 1989, Romarey Ventura has been dating Jordi Alba since 2015. She is reportedly a tourism student at the University of Spain. On the 18th of January 2018, the pair took to Instagram to announce the birth of their son Piero. Except it was a top-secret wedding, Romarey and Jordi are yet to tie the knot officially.
Height, Weight, and Body Measurements
Jordi Alba is a diminutive player whose game revolves around his use of pace. His stature was a major concern during his days as a youth player; he has managed to conquer those concerns. He stands at 1.7 meters ( 5 feet 7 inches) and weighs 68 kg.
