Legendary Spanish left-back José Enrique made 161 Premier League appearances during his nine years in England for Newcastle and then Liverpool. He returned to his native Spain and played for Real Zaragoza before being forced to retire in 2017 due to injury.
Born in Valencia, Enrique began his footballing career with his hometown club Levante before signing for Valencia. He went on loan for one season to Celta de Vigo before being signed by Villarreal in 2006. In 2007 he was bought by Newcastle for £6.3million, the Geordie club beating Manchester City and Liverpool to his signature. But the Merseyside club were not to give up and four years later they paid £7million to acquire the defender. Sadly, though, he only made 76 appearances for the Reds, being hampered by a persistent knee injury (which eventually led to his retirement from the sport) in his final three season at the club. However, he did help them to lift the League Cup in 2012, the club’s first trophy success since 2006.
Always a fighter, Enrique was determined not to let the injury that ruined his career get him down. He remained positive and became an ambassador for Switch & Co, a wellness company designed to keep people active mentally, physically and socially. And even when he was diagnosed with a rare brain tumour in 2018 he refused to give up. He was successfully operated on and received the all-clear in April 2019.
Affable, friendly and approachable, Enrique still proudly flies the flag for Liverpool across his social media accounts, keeping his 700k+ followers entertained and informed on all things to do with football and mental health via Twitter and Instagram.
