Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Martin Valjent[1] | ||
Date of birth | 11 December 1995 | ||
Place of birth | Dubnica nad Váhom, Slovakia | ||
Height | 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||
Position(s) | Centre-back | ||
Team information | |||
Current team | Mallorca | ||
Number | 24 | ||
Youth career | |||
Dubnica | |||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2012–2013 | Dubnica | 14 | (0) |
2013–2017 | Ternana | 76 | (2) |
2017–2019 | Chievo | 0 | (0) |
2017–2018 | → Ternana (loan) | 38 | (3) |
2018–2019 | → Mallorca (loan) | 29 | (0) |
2019– | Mallorca | 109 | (1) |
International career‡ | |||
2013 | Slovakia U18 | ||
2014 | Slovakia U19 | 14 | (2) |
2015–2017 | Slovakia U21 | 19 | (2) |
2018– | Slovakia | 12 | (0) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 18 September 2023 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 18:05, 10 June 2022 (UTC) |
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]
Valjent made his professional debut for Ternana[3] against Varese on 28 September 2013.
In 2017, the defender signed for Chievo Verona just to be sent on loan to his former club for the 2017/18 season.
In August 2018, Valjent moved on loan to Mallorca to reinforce the Balearic defense during the 2018–19 Segunda División campaign.[4] On 26 June 2019, following Mallorca’s promotion to La Liga, the club exercised the option to buy the Slovak for €1.5 million.[5]
Valjent was first called up to the Slovakia national team by Ján Kozák sr. for a double fixture against Netherlands and Morocco on 31 May and 4 June respectively. He was additionally nominated as a result of Gyömbér's (rescheduled club fixture) and Štetina's (injury) unavailability. Although Valjent was benched in the home fixture against Netherlands (1–1), he replaced Tomáš Hubočan in the 79th minute of the fixture against Morocco in Geneva, to mark his debut in Slovakia's senior national team. He was fielded when the score was 1–2 and Slovakia failed to equalize the game.
His 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.[6] It was noted, 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.[7] In October, Valjent returned to the national team in a friendly against Paraguay on his preferred post. This time 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 concluded with a 1–1 tie.[8]
On 26 August 2020, the Mallorca defender was called up by the Slovakia national team to take part in the two opening matches of the UEFA Nations League against Czech Republic and Israel.[9]
Club | Season | League | National cup | Other | Total | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Dubnica | 2012–13[11] | 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 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 3 | 0 | ||
Total | 101 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 109 | 1 | ||
Career total | 229 | 6 | 11 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 244 | 6 |
National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
---|---|---|---|
Slovakia | 2018 | 1 | 0 |
2019 | 2 | 0 | |
2020 | 5 | 0 | |
2021 | 1 | 0 | |
2022 | 3 | 0 | |
Total | 12 | 0 |