Alvaro Arbeloa

Full back Álvaro Arbeloa signed on 31 January 2007 for a reported £2.5 million from Deportivo de La Coruña (with 50% going to Real Madrid) to fill the void of cover for Steve Finnan.

Álvaro started his career as a teenager at Real Madrid playing under then youth coach Rafa Benitez. He then went on to play 50 matches for Real’s reserves and 2 for the first team before signing for Deportivo at the beginning of the 2006-07 season, for whom he played 21 games, including a good performance against Ronaldinho in their draw with Barcelona.

After being reunited with Rafa Benitez, Álvaro again faced Barcelona in his full debut for Liverpool, when he impressed by playing out of position at left back and ensuring that Messi was ineffectual, playing an important role in the teams famous victory. He scored his first goal for the club in the 2-1 away win against Reading.

Arbeloa already looks to be an excellent singing by Rafa and in the future we can expect him to continue to challenge Finnan and possibly to become his long term replacement.

- Gordo, April 2007