Gerard Deulofeu

Gerard Deulofeu Lázaro is a Spanish professional football player who currently plays for the English club, Watford. He was born on 13 March 1994 in Riudarenes, Girona, Catalonia. He plays mainly as a forward but is also equally good as both left and right winder.

Background

He started his career at an early age of seven, in the year 2001 with Penya Bons Aires.

Debut

Deulofeu played in the Spanish under-16 team from 2009 to 2010 and helped Spain national under-17 football team finish at runner-up position at the 2010 UEFA European Under-17 Championship held in Liechtenstein where England defeated them. In the under-16s he made one goal in four matches and in the under-17s he made six goals in twenty-one matches.

In 2010 he was selected into the under-19s and debuted on Apr 19, 2011. He scored five goal in nineteen matches he played, in the process helping his team in winning two consecutive UEFA European Under-19 Championships in 2011 and 2012, hosted in Romania and Estonia respectively.

He debuted in Spain U20 on May 14, 2013 and went on to play nine matches and scoring three goals.

He debuted in Spain U21 on June 6, 2012 and went on to play thirty-six matches and scoring seventeen goals.

Finally he made his main senior level debut for the national team on 30 May 2014, against Bolivia.On 12 November 2015, he scored a hat-trick for the under-21 team in a 5–0 win over Georgia in Almería, for 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification match. On 28 March 2017, his is first goal for Spain came in a friendly match against France thus helping his team win 2:0.

Rise to glory

He was selected best player in the 2012 edition of UEFA European Under-19 Championships.

Club career

In 2003, Deulofeu joined Barcelona's youth academy and by 2005, he was in the U-13 team. On 2nd March 2011, he made his senior debut even though was still officially with the junior team. The match was a 4–1 away win against Córdoba in Segunda División.

On 29th of April 2011, Deulofeu was called up to the senior squad (FC Barcelona B) for the first time, for a La Liga match against Real Sociedad. On 3rd August he made his Barcelona first-team debut with a 1–4 loss in a friendly match against Guadalajara. In June 30, 2014 he was loaned to Everton, where he played 25 matches 3 goals. On 30th June, 2014 he returned again to be loaned to Sevilla on August 14, 2014.

On Jun 30, 2015 Deulofeu returned and this time was permanently transferred to Everton, the team he was previously loaned on Jul 1, 2015 in a deal worth £5.40 million. He scored his first goal there at the Madejski Stadium in win 2–1 against Reading in the third round of the League Cup.

On 23 January 2017, he joined AC Milan on loan for a Loan fee of £630k and played there until June 30, 2017. On 30 June 2017, the loan ended and he returned via Everton to Barcelona. He scored his first goal for the club on 21st October when he scored the opener in the 2–0 win against Málaga.

Captaincy

Deulofeu captained the under-21 team in the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship held in Almería for the qualification match which was a 5–0 win over Georgia.