PLAYERS and fans alike couldn’t quite believe it when a Spanish international known as The Dagger made his first and only plunge into English football with second tier Brighton.
Vicente – no need for a surname, although in full it was Vicente Rodríguez Guillén – lit up the Amex with sublime skills and ball control.
Simply a magician with the ball at his feet, Vicente glided past opponents with astonishing ease and literally had supporters on the edge of their seats in anticipation of what he might do next.
“The romantic in me hopes that Vicente, nicknamed El Puñal, the dagger, in Spain, proves to be the sharpest bit of transfer business this season,” Rob Bagchi said of the signing in The Guardian.
So, enough of the nickname, what about the player? Here was someone who had made 340 appearances for Valencia, the majority under Rafa Benitez, and helped them to win two Spanish league titles and the UEFA Cup.
His talent had been rewarded with 38 caps for Spain over four years, including representing his country at the Euro 2004 tournament in Portugal (“Spain’s best player of the tournament” according to seasoned watcher Guillem Balague). He’d previously won 44 caps across various younger levels.
Albion manager Gus Poyet, who had played for Real Zaragoza in Spain for seven years, ‘sold’ the club to the gifted left winger and described Vicente’s signing in September 2011 as “a major coup”. It was certainly quite a statement of intent for the club’s first season at the Amex.
The player himself told the matchday programme he’d always wanted to play in England, to sample the football culture, “which is totally different to what we have back home”.
He added: “When I spoke to Gus Poyet about coming to Brighton, it really excited me. I wanted to come to a club that plays good football, exciting and attacking football. I have discovered that since I arrived.”
Born in Benicalap, a working class neighbourhood of Valencia, on 16 July 1981, he played youth football for C. F. Unión Deportiva Benicalap.
His professional football breakthrough came after a successful trial at the city’s then tier two side Levante. He was just 16 when he made his debut for them in 1997 and three years later he joined Valencia.
In a 2016 interview with Brian Owen of The Argus, Vicente spoke of his admiration for Benitez, describing him as a top level coach ahead of his time.
“When he arrived at Valencia and applied his methods, along with his coaching staff who were also top class, the results were incredible,” said Vicente. “He transmitted a winning mentality. He took care of all aspects of the game, the training sessions, the preparation of a footballer. He has an enormous capacity for work.
“And he has had success at Valencia, Liverpool, Chelsea, Inter, Napoli – there’s a reason for that. As a coach he could always get the best out of you, which is key for a player and for a team.
“He would demand the absolute maximum – but on the other side he was the sort who would help you during troubled times and just get the best he could from you. I like that. Having demands placed upon you is what helps you grow.
“I’ve got the best possible memories of Rafa, no doubt. With Rafa we achieved goals with Valencia which have never been repeated.
“It is very hard to battle for the league with Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid and we won two titles in three years, we did the double by winning the UEFA Cup. They were the best years in the recent history of Valencia.”
The teammates Vicente joined up with at Brighton could scarcely believe a player of his pedigree had signed.
“His left foot was unbelievable,” Gary Dicker told Andy Naylor, of The Athletic. “He wasn’t that fast but he was so quick with the ball. He could drift past players and, if he got away from you, you weren’t catching him.”
Centre-forward Craig Mackail-Smith added: “His ability and the way the Spanish are brought up, the way they look after the ball and move it, you could just see why Real Madrid wanted to buy him. He had everything; left foot, right foot, acceleration. He was just a fantastic player to have at the club for everyone to learn from.”
In spite of his long list of previous achievements, Vicente explained his decision to move to Brighton in an interview with the matchday programme: “This is not about status or money, this is about enjoying my football again – and I believe I am at the right club to do that.
“The first four or five years at Valencia were the best of my career, where I won titles at home and in Europe, but the last year was hard because I didn’t have a good relationship with the coach (Unai Emery) and didn’t play much football.
“It was sad that things ended that way but I left because I wanted to play more. I am only 30, so have a few good years left in me. I can still improve and I want to help Brighton to the highest level possible.”
Vicente made an instant impression on Brighton fans when he replaced Will Buckley on the hour of Albion’s Carling Cup third round match at home to Liverpool.
The Spaniard was felled in the penalty area by a wild Jamie Carragher tackle and Ashley Barnes converted the spot kick, although Liverpool won the tie 2-1 courtesy of goals by Craig Bellamy and Dirk Kuyt.
“If we can get him fit for the pace and craziness of the English game, he will be an unbelievable player for us,” Poyet told the media after the game.
Fitness was an ongoing issue for Vicente throughout his career. It had caused friction during his time at Valencia and it would ultimately lead to a schism with Poyet that curtailed the player’s involvement in Brighton’s colours too.
Within weeks of him scoring his first Albion goal on his first start, in a 3-1 defeat at Ipswich Town, he was unavailable for nine matches due to a thigh problem.
By December 2011, perhaps showing the first signs of frustration, Poyet told The Argus: “He’s fit. For whatever reasons, he’s just had every day a little bit of pain and aches. He couldn’t really be pain free, so he didn’t train with us more than once or twice last week.
“If everything went all right over the weekend then he should be training with us today but I don’t think he is ready to play 90 minutes.”
The Uruguayan added: “We were convinced he would take us to another level but we have lost him for many, many games so far. We need to make sure he recovers. I am still confident that he will bring a lot.”
Alas, Vicente continued to be absent for several more weeks suffering from adductor, hamstring and groin problems. Even after he’d made a goalscoring return in March, he admitted: “I’m not 100 per cent yet, but I’m almost there. I’m feeling better and I hope I’ll be at 100 per cent very soon. With luck the injury problems are behind me and I can keep the shirt.”
He was speaking after scoring twice having gone on for Craig Noone in the 57th minute of Albion’s 10 March home game against Portsmouth. He whipped off his shirt and earned a booking from Mike Dean after scoring direct from a free kick in the 75th minute and then, in injury time, he buried a cross from Kazenga LuaLua to clinch a win.
“The emotion that came out after the free-kick was simply because I hadn’t played for so long and the celebration showed how happy I was to have helped the team,” he said. “It’s been hard for me but that’s football and I’ve just had to keep working.
“It has been frustrating to have so many injuries, missing so much of the season and not being able to be in the team or play in recent games, but to come on and do well made me very happy.”
Captain Gordon Greer said: “The things he did against Portsmouth he does all the time in training and it’s just a shame we haven’t seen more of him this season. He’s the player who can change a game for us.”
Vicente had a one-year contract with the Seagulls but the club had an option to keep him another year, which they exercised. However, the player didn’t show for pre-season training ahead of the new season, apparently unhappy at the option being activated.
With his partner having recently given birth to their second child, and settled at home in Valencia, Vicente was keen to stay in Spain and join Elche, a side where his former Valencia coach Fran Escriba had taken over.
But Poyet was insistent Vicente should honour his contract and told Owen, of The Argus: “When a player is under contract you expect him to be here. Then there can be unhappiness, there can be decisions, there can be negotiations, there can be problems, there can be discussions, there can be 100 things between a player and a club.
“That’s normal because not everything is always perfect. But we will deal with it internally.”
By the first week of July, a delighted Poyet announced on the club website: “Vicente will be with us next season and to know he will be part of the squad is fantastic news for the club and our supporters.
“Too much has been made of the situation but Vicente’s had some personal issues to resolve before being able to return to England; nothing to do with football or financial issues.
“These issues have been resolved now and everyone is happy.”
He played and scored in the curtain-raiser 3-1 friendly win over Chelsea at the Amex, appeared in the first competitive game of the season, a 3-0 reverse against Swindon Town in the league cup, and went on as a sub in a 0-0 draw at Cardiff, but he was then missing from the squad for four months.
When veteran Albion reporter Naylor took a look back at Vicente’s Brighton spell in a March 2021 article for The Athletic, Greer, the skipper at the time, told him: “Vicente was struggling with his fitness. Gus wanted him to play but Vicente didn’t feel he was ready to play or, for whatever reason, couldn’t play.
“I think Vicente felt the way Gus spoke to people at times wasn’t to his liking. I know he wasn’t happy some of the time and not feeling confident about his body.”
Greer added: “We could only imagine how good he would have been if he’d stayed fit, or how good he was when he was slightly younger and playing all the time.”
The best Albion fans saw of him in the 2012-13 season came in back-to-back home games in February 2013 when he scored in a 1-0 win against Hull City and a 1-1 draw with Blackburn Rovers three days later.
He made only seven starts plus six appearances off the bench across the whole 2012-13 season and his last involvement was in the final game of the normal season, a 2-0 win over Wolves. Poyet didn’t pick him for either leg of the play-off semi-final loss to Crystal Palace.
After his release from the club at the end of the season, Vicente vented his feelings about Poyet via The Argus declaring him “the worst person I’ve come across in football” and describing him as “selfish” and “egocentric”.
Eight years later, Vicente told The Athletic’s Naylor how his relationship with Poyet was good at the beginning “but there were decisions I did not understand. Training sessions were fun but always the same”.
He went on: “I don’t hold a grudge against him. I suppose he was trying to get the most out of the team at the end of the second season and the relationship did not go well then.
“There were details that, as a professional, I did not like. I have not spoken with him again. I think he could have been clearer in some situations.”
Vicente retired a year after leaving Brighton and for a while was part of the technical team at Valencia. He then became a partner in a player agency.
Reflecting on his time with the Seagulls, Vicente told Naylor: “I was very comfortable in the city and with my team-mates. The fans always treated me very well and I enjoyed playing every game at the Amex. I feel very proud to have been part of the club. I will always carry them in my heart.”
The player also told Owen of The Argus: “It’s a source of pride that the Brighton fanbase hold me in such high regard.
“I’d have loved to have played more for them because I knew the fans liked me. The connection with them was excellent.”
