Guys in Disguise; Vicente Iborra

Embed from Getty Images

Vicente Iborra joined Leicester from Sevilla back in 2017. The manager at the time, Craig Shakespeare, decided to pay £15million for his services, but it was not become a very successful story. Leicester had Wilfred Ndidi as their main central defensive midfielder, the preferred positon of Iborra, and also having other good options in that area, it became a life on the fringe.

At the age of 29, it could have been the perfect move for the former Levante player, who had lifted three Europa League titles with Sevilla, and been a great servant to this club for four years.

Iborra made his Leicester debut in an EFL cup game vs. Liverpool, in September that year, winning 2-0. His league debut came in the same month away to Bournemouth. With the change of management and living in England never became major positives for Iborra. In January 2019 a move to Villareal happened. The fee this time was reduced to £9million, making this another special happening for him.

He had success in the Europa League before, and again he would feel that happiness again. Villareal managed to reach the final of the Europa League, facing Man Utd, and defeating The Red Devils on penalties. Iborra was an unused sub for the event, but still another Europa League cup winners medal in his collection.

In 2023, Iborra, made a loan move back to his former club Levante, playing 36 games for the Secunda club, helping him restore fitness after having a bit of injury problems in his last season at Villareal, joining Olympiacos for a new adventure in the summer of 2023. At the age of 35, he joined the Greek giants and again experienced another fantastic happening in Europe. Iborra played just 15 league appearances in his first season, but had the thrill of playing both Europa Conference semi-finals vs. West Ham and also starting the final vs. Fiorentina, winning 1-0.

What comes next, who knows, but surely a fantastic run of results in Europe, and after leaving Leicester as 31 year old, who would have thought of Iborra winning two more European titles in his career.

FACTFILE

Full Name: Vicente Iborra de la Fuente
Position: Midfielder
Date of Birth: 16.01.1988
Birthplace: Moncada
Nation: Spain
Caps / Goals: -/-
Major Career:
- 2007-13, Levante (0/0)
- 2013-17, Sevilla (113/24)
- 2017-19, Leicester City (27/3)
- 2019-23, Villareal (86/4)
- 2022-23, Levante (l) (36/2)
- 2023->, Olympiacos (15/0)
Links: Wikipedia