Albion Seal Vicente DealPosted on: Fri 02 Sep 2011
Albion have concluded a deal for former Spanish international Vicente Rodriguez.
The 30-year-old left Valencia in the summer and attracted interest from a number of top European and English clubs.
The highly-rated offensive midfielder joins Albion on a one-year deal and brings a wealth of experience having played at the very top level in Spain, Europe and international football.
Capped 38 times by Spain, he has also won two La Liga titles with Valencia, the Uefa Cup in 2004 and also helped Los Che to the Champions League Final in 2001.
Gus Poyet explained, "Vicente is the special player we wanted. He has great qualities in terms of his ability and flexibility to play in a range of different positions, so plenty of quality.
"He also brings a great experience having played at the top level for the last ten years with Valencia, including the Champions League, Uefa Cup and international football with Spain.
"Throughout his career, he has always attracted great interest from top clubs across Europe so this is a major coup to bring him to the Amex.
"I am sure the supporters will have seen him in action in La Liga or in the Champions League and will be very excited by the prospect of seeing him in a Brighton & Hove Albion shirt."
Vicente began his career with Levante in 1997, but switched to Valencia in 2000, where he went on to make over 300 appearance for the La Liga giants before leaving at the end of last season.
He has also represented Spain from under-16 to senior level and appeared for his country at Euro 2004 in Portugal.
Vicente passed a medical at the Amex on Tuesday, concluded talks last night and signed at the club earlier today, before travelling back to Spain with his agent.
He will return to Brighton on Monday and link up with his new teammates for training next week, ahead of the match at Bristol City on Saturday.
http://www.seagulls.co.uk/page/Latest/0,,10433~2439699,00.html
