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Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Claudio Maldonado coming to Fenerbahce


Fenerbahce is finaly getting Claudio Maldonado a Chilian soccer player.
He is due to arrive in Istanbul late tonight.


Hi real name is Claudio Andrés del Tránsito Maldonado Rivera, but he is known as Claudio Maldonado.

Born on January 3, 1980 in Curicó, Chile) is a Chilean football player who is captain of the national side. He is a similar type of player to the likes of Ivan Campo, Mahamadou Diarra and Claude Makelele. Maldonado poseeses a great big engine, top passing and tremendous battling qualities and is thought of by many as one of the best players in South America in his position creating an iron shield infront of the defence. He rarely goes forward, his goal tally is less than ten, although 3 of the goals were a hat-trick against Manchester United in a friendly in 2007, but what he lacks in scoring Maldonado makes up for in tenacity and an ability to break down the opposition with great efffectiveness.

He spent three seasons with São Paulo FC making 35 appearances with the team.

For the 2006 season, Maldonado was reunited with former Cruzeiro's coach Luxemburgo at Santos Futebol Clube for a fee of $4.5 million. However at the end of the Brazilian season was scheduled to have ankle surgery which caused him to be miss up to two months. After recuperating Maldonado continued playing for Santos reaching the semi-finals of the 2007 Copa Libertadores. Currently Santos has completed the 2007 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A in second place and are eligible to compete in the upcoming Copa Libertadores 2008.
Maldonado has appeared in 39 games with the adult squad and has netted one goal. For 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification, Maldonado was a regular with the first team and has since gained the captaincy of the national team. As of recent Maldonando has been called up to serve on the Chilean national team that is managed by Marcelo Bielsa.

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