Vicent Xavier 'Xavi' Valero Verchili (born 28 February 1973 in Castellón de la Plana

Castellón de la Plana

Castellón de la Plana or Castelló de la Plana is the capital city of the province of Castelló, in the Valencian Community, Spain, in the east of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Costa del Azahar by the Mediterranean Sea...

),is a former Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 football goalkeeper

Goalkeeper (football)

In association football, the goalkeeper occupies a position that represents the last line of defence between the opponent's offence and his own team's goal. The primary role of the goalkeeper is to defend his team's goal and prevent the opposition from scoring a goal...

After a playing career with Castellón

CD Castellón

Club Deportivo Castellón, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Castellón de la Plana, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 1922, it currently plays in Tercera División – Group 6, holding home games at Nou Estadi Castalia, which has a capacity of 16,000.-History:Football first appeared in...

, Mallorca

RCD Mallorca

Real Club Deportivo Mallorca is a Spanish football team based on Palma, Majorca, in the Balearic Islands. Founded on 5 March 1916, the team currently plays in the Spanish first division, holding home games at Son Moix....

, Logroñés

CD Logroñés

Club Deportivo Logroñés, S.A.D. was a Spanish football team based in Logroño, in the autonomous community of La Rioja. Founded in 1940, it last played in Regional Preferente de La Rioja....

 (where he worked with Jose Ochotorena

Jose Ochotorena

José Manuel Ochotorena Santacruz is a retired Spanish footballer who played as a goalkeeper.-Football career:...

), Real Murcia

Real Murcia

Real Murcia Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in the region of Murcia. Founded in 1908, it currently plays in the second division, playing home matches at Estadio Nueva Condomina, which can hold 33,045 spectators....

, Córdoba

Córdoba CF

Córdoba Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Córdoba, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1954, it plays in Segunda División, holding home matches at Estadio Nuevo Arcángel, with a capacity of 18,280 seats....

; and a short spell with Wrexham

Wrexham A.F.C.

Wrexham Football Club are a professional football team based in Wrexham, north-east Wales, who play in the English football pyramid.Founded in 1872, they are one of the oldest surviving football clubs in Britain and the oldest professional club in Wales...

, to improve his English language

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 speaking (learnt at the University of Castellón).

After retiring from playing, Valero took his coaching badges, gaining a Masters in Goalkeeper Coaching from the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and a Master of Sports Psychology UNED in Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

.

After Jose Ochotorena

Jose Ochotorena

José Manuel Ochotorena Santacruz is a retired Spanish footballer who played as a goalkeeper.-Football career:...

 decided to return to Spain to work with Valencia, Rafael Benítez

Rafael Benítez

Rafael "Rafa" Benítez Maudes is a football manager, and former player. He is currently unemployed, after leaving as manager of Internazionale in December 2010....

 appointed Valero head goalkeeping coach of Liverpool in July 2007.

Valero has been praised by former Liverpool striker Fernando Torres

Fernando Torres

Fernando José Torres Sanz , nicknamed , is a Spanish footballer who plays for Chelsea and the Spain national team as a striker....

 as one of the biggest reasons for his goals. Torres stated that during training, Valero instructs the players on how goalkeepers in future games react to one-on-one situations.

He joined Inter Milan along with other former members of Rafa Benitez's backroom team. However his stint was only short lived when he left the club in December 2010 along with Rafael Benitez

Rafael Benítez

Rafael "Rafa" Benítez Maudes is a football manager, and former player. He is currently unemployed, after leaving as manager of Internazionale in December 2010....

 and returned to his family home in Merseyside

Merseyside

Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.