Jaime Gavilán Martínez (born 12 May 1985) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a left midfielder.
He amassed La Liga totals of 203 games and 11 goals over the course of 11 seasons, representing mainly in the competition Valencia and Getafe. In a 19-year career, he also appeared for clubs in Greece, India and South Korea.
Gavilán played for Spain at youth level.
Club career Valencia Born in Valencia, Valencian Community, Gavilán was a Valencia CF youth product. He made his first-team – and La Liga – debut one month shy of his 18th birthday, playing 12 minutes in a 1–0 away defeat against Real Valladolid on 19 April 2003. He also spent two full seasons with the reserves in the Segunda División B.
Gavilán was gradually breaking into the main squad after two loans, at CD Tenerife in the Segunda División and Getafe CF. However, when new head coach Ronald Koeman arrived in November 2007, he was deemed surplus to requirements and was loaned again to Getafe until the end of the season; the previous campaign, he had suffered a serious knee ligament injury that kept him out of action for of six months.
Gavilán featured prominently in his second spell with the Madrid outskirts side, scoring in a 2–1 home win over Racing de Santander on 16 March 2008. He was also part of their quarter-final run in the UEFA Cup, making three appearances as a starter.
Getafe On 15 July 2008, Gavilán signed a permanent four-year deal with Getafe. He was ever-present during his first full season and, on 12 April 2009, scored the game's only goal in an important victory at Sevilla FC.
In 2009–10, Gavilán featured in 27 scoreless matches as Getafe qualified for the second time ever for Europe after finishing in sixth position. On 6 March 2011, in the last minutes of the first half of a 2–0 loss away to Sporting de Gijón, he suffered the same injury to his knee, being sidelined for the rest of the campaign.
Levante The free agent Gavilán joined fellow top division club Levante UD in June 2014, on a one-year contract with an option to extend for a further two. On 30 January 2015, having totalled just six games in all competitions, he severed his ties.
Abroad Following a brief spell in Greece with Platanias FC, Gavilán signed for Atlético de Kolkata of the Indian Super League on 18 June 2015. Subsequently, he represented South Korea's Suwon FC before returning to India with Chennaiyin FC, where he won the national championship.
Later career Gavilán moved to second-tier AD Alcorcón on 6 July 2018. His last club was lowly UD San Sebastián de los Reyes, before retiring in 2021 aged 36.
International career Gavilán helped Spain to win the 2004 UEFA European Under-19 Championship held in Switzerland, scoring in group-stage victories against Germany (3–0) and Poland (4–1). In the run up to the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Luis Aragonés called him up to a senior team get-together, but he was ultimately not part of the squad at the finals and never earned a full cap.
Career statistics
ClubSeasonLeagueCupContinentalTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsValencia 2002–03La Liga200000202003–04La Liga000000002006–07La Liga12010401702007–08La Liga30003060Total1701070250Tenerife (loan)2004–05Segunda División30321—324Getafe (loan)2005–06La Liga32431—355Getafe (loan)2007–08La Liga1615230243Getafe 2008–09La Liga32320—3432009–10La Liga27021—2912010–11La Liga18210302222011–12La Liga17110—1812012–13La Liga22042—2622013–14La Liga20030—230Total184112166021117Levante 2014–15La Liga2040—60Platanias 2014–15Super League Greece8000—80ATK 2015Indian Super League160——160Suwon 2016K League Classic22300—2232017K League Challenge1000—10Total23300—233Chennaiyin 2017–18Indian Super League13010—140Career total2931729713033524
Honours Chennaiyin Indian Super League: 2017–18
Spain U16 UEFA European Under-16 Championship: 2001
Spain U19 UEFA European Under-19 Championship: 2004
Spain U20 FIFA U-20 World Cup runner-up: 2003
References
External links