Martin Valjent (born 11 December 1995) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for La Liga club Mallorca and the Slovakia national team.[2]

Club career

At the age of 17 in summer 2013, Valjent joined Italian Serie B club Ternana Calcio.[3]

In August 2018, Valjent moved to RCD Mallorca on loan, a prominent team in Segunda División.[4] In February 2021, he extended his contract with Mallorca until 2025, emphasizing his dedication to the club.[5][6] On 24 February 2024, Valjent played his 200th match for RCD Mallorca in a 2023–24 Copa del Rey match against Deportivo Alavés which ended in a 1–1 draw.[7] In 2025, he extended his contract until 2029.[8]

International career

Valjent was first called up to the Slovakia national team by Ján Kozák sr. for fixtures against Netherlands and Morocco on 31 May and 4 June 2018 respectively. This was done due to Gyömbér and Štetina's injuries.[9] Valjent debuted during a match against Morocco in Geneva, replacing Tomáš Hubočan in the 79th minute.[10]

Valjent's first competitive start came in a Euro 2020 qualifying fixture against Croatia on 6 September 2019 in Trnava, with Valjent playing as a right-back. Slovakia lost the game 4–0.[11] It was that Valjent had a difficult task in defending Dejan Lovren at the side-line, as his preferred post is the one of a centre-back.[12] In October, Valjent returned to the national team in a friendly match against Paraguay on his preferred post. His performance was reported on very positively, receiving praise from RTVS' commentary expert Marián Zeman during the farewell game for Martin Škrtel, with whom he starred in the starting XI, as well as Hubočan and Adam Nemec. This game also coincided with a return to Tehelné pole after some ten years and ended in a 1–1 draw.[13]

On 26 August 2020, Valjent was called up by the Slovak senior squad to take part in the two opening matches of the UEFA Nations League against the Czech Republic and Israel.[14]

Slovak media intensively speculated about the possible reasons for Valjnet's continued exclusion from the national team after 2022, in spite of his consistent performances in La Liga. The manager of the national team Francesco Calzona refused to elaborate on the absence of call-ups, although he praised Valjnet's professionalism and positive attitude in the national team.[15][16][17]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 21 January 2025[18]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Dubnica 2012–13[19] 2. liga 14 0 — — 14 0
Ternana 2013–14 Serie B 6 0 0 0 — 6 0
2014–15 Serie B 35 0 2 0 — 37 0
2015–16 Serie B 25 2 2 0 — 27 2
2016–17 Serie B 33 0 2 0 — 35 0
Total 76 2 6 0 0 0 82 2
Chievo 2018–19 Serie A 0 0 0 0 — 0 0
Ternana (loan) 2017–18 Serie B 38 3 1 0 — 39 3
Mallorca (loan) 2018–19 Segunda División 29 0 2 0 4[a] 0 35 0
Mallorca 2019–20 La Liga 36 0 1 0 — 37 0
2020–21 Segunda División 33 1 1 0 — 34 1
2021–22 La Liga 36 0 3 0 — 39 0
2022–23 La Liga 30 0 2 0 — 32 0
2023–24 La Liga 28 0 4 0 — 32 0
2024–25 La Liga 16 0 1 0 1[b] 0 18 0
Total 208 1 14 0 5 0 227 1
Career total 336 6 20 0 5 0 361 6
  1. ^ Appearance(s) in Promotion Playoffs
  2. ^ Appearance in Supercopa de España

International

As of match played 10 June 2022[19]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Slovakia 2018 1 0
2019 2 0
2020 5 0
2021 1 0
2022 3 0
Total 12 0

References

  1. ^ "Acta del Partido celebrado el 14 de agosto de 2021, en Palma de Mallorca" [Minutes of the Match held on 14 August 2021, in Palma de Mallorca] (in Spanish). Royal Spanish Football Federation. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  2. ^ "Player Profile | Martin Valjent". RCD Mallorca. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
  3. ^ "Sedemnásťročný Valjent ide z Dubnice do Talianska". Sme (in Slovak). Petit Press. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  4. ^ "El Mallorca logra la cesión de Martin Valjent". BeSoccer (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  5. ^ Jesenka, Ján (24 February 2021). "Veľké rozhodnutie Martina Valjenta! Na Malorke to oznámili aj na veľkých bilbordoch". Aktuality.sk (in Slovak). Ringier Axel Springier Slovakia. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  6. ^ Cabot, Ricard (26 June 2019). "El Mallorca ejecuta la opción de compra de Valjent". Diario de Mallorca (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  7. ^ Chacártegui, Miguel (25 February 2024). "Martin Valjent, tras cumplir 200 partidos con el RCD Mallorca: "Me gustaría hacer algo grande en este club y entrar en la historia"". Diario de Mallorca (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 March 2025.
  8. ^ "Martin Valjent renews his contract until 2029". RCD Mallorca. 16 January 2025. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
  9. ^ "Z Kozákovej nominácie vypadli Gyömbér a Štetina, nahradia ich Mihalík a Valjent". Aktuality.sk (in Slovak). 25 May 2018.
  10. ^ "Valjent v Taliansku vystriedal všetky pozície, ale neočakáva, že nahradí Pekaríka". Aktuality.sk (in Slovak). 4 September 2018.
  11. ^ "Slovenským futbalistom sa vzdialil postup na ME, s Chorvátmi vysoko prehrali". Sme (in Slovak). Petit Press. 9 September 2019.
  12. ^ "Vavro pôsobil ako malý žiak. Azda zápas nevidel tréner Lazia". Sme. Petit Press. 9 September 2019.
  13. ^ "Slováci v príprave remizovali s Paraguajom, s reprezentáciou sa rozlúčila trojica hráčov". Sme (in Slovak). Petit Press. 14 October 2019.
  14. ^ Forteza, Gabriel (26 August 2020). "Martin Valjent convocado por Eslovaquia para la Nations League" [Martin Valjent called up by the Slovak squad]. Diario AS (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  15. ^ Spál, Pavol (25 February 2025). "Na Malorke je zbožňovaný líder, na Slovensku odsúvaný. Jeho prípad je záhadou". Sme (in Slovak). Petit Press. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
  16. ^ Lauko, Ondrej (30 May 2024). "Bránil Messiho, Benzemu aj Bellinghama. Štyri dôvody, prečo Valjent nie je v nominácii na Euro". Denník N (in Slovak).
  17. ^ Farkaš, Erik (9 November 2023). "Calzona vysvetľuje, prečo v nomináciách chýba Valjent. Agent to odmietol komentovať". Aktuality.sk (in Slovak). Ringier Axel Springier Slovakia. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
  18. ^ Martin Valjent at Soccerway
  19. ^ a b Martin Valjent at National-Football-Teams.com
Allikas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Valjent
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