Jefferson Montero

Jefferson Montero

Montero playing with Levante in 2011
Personal information
Full name	Jefferson Antonio Montero Vite[1]
Date of birth	1 September 1989
Place of birth	Babahoyo, Ecuador
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)[2]
Playing position	Winger
Club information
Current team	Swansea City
Number	20
Youth career
	Emelec
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2007	Emelec	22	(2)
2008–2009	Independiente del Valle	42	(22)
2008	→ Dorados (loan)	5	(1)
2009–2010	Villarreal B	32	(10)
2010–2012	Villarreal	9	(1)
2011	→ Levante (loan)	11	(0)
2011–2012	→ Betis (loan)	32	(1)
2012–2014	Morelia	63	(10)
2014–	Swansea City	59	(1)
National team^‡
2007–	Ecuador	62	(10)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 26 November 2016. ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 7 September 2016

Jefferson Antonio Montero Vite (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈʝeferson monˈteɾo]; born 1 September 1989) is an Ecuadorian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Premier League club Swansea City and the Ecuador national team.

Club career

Early years

Born in Babahoyo, Los Ríos, Montero started playing professionally with Club Sport Emelec, but first impressed whilst at Club Social y Deportivo Independiente José Terán in the Ecuadorian Serie B.

Shortly after arriving he was loaned to Mexican club Dorados de Sinaloa, which was pushing for promotion to the Liga MX: he signed alongside compatriot José Madrid, and made his official debut for his new team on 11 October 2008 by playing the entire match against Irapuato FC.

Villarreal

On 27 April 2009, Villarreal CF from Spain signed the 20-year-old Montero to a five-year contract, effective from the start of the 2009–10 campaign in La Liga.^[3] On 19 July, he contributed with two goals and five assists as the Valencian Community side trounced amateurs Navata 27–0;^[4] he spent the vast majority of his first season with the club, however, with the reserves in division two, being one of the most important offensive elements as they overachieved in their first season in that category, finishing seventh.

Subsequently, Montero was definitely promoted to the main squad, as a complement for more experienced Santi Cazorla and Cani. He made his top division debut on 29 August 2010, replacing the latter in a 0–1 loss at Real Sociedad in the season opener.

Montero failed to find a regular first team place at Villarreal, and moved to fellow league team Levante UD in late January 2011, on a four-month loan. He returned in June but, on the 28th, left in the same predicament to freshly promoted Real Betis.^[5]

On 10 March 2012, Montero scored his first goal of the campaign, in a 2–3 home loss against Real Madrid.^[6] He was first-choice throughout most of his tenure with the Pepe Mel-led squad, who managed to retain their league status.

Morelia

On 15 June 2012, Montero was transferred to Monarcas Morelia from the Mexican top flight, on a three-year contract.^[7] The move was made official 11 days later and, on 15 July, he scored his first goal against Club América, also making two assists in the game; on 21 August, in a Copa MX contest against his former team Dorados, he netted a hat-trick in a 6–0 win.^[8]

On 4 January 2013, Montero scored the opening and inaugural goal of the Clausura, in a 3–3 home draw against Cruz Azul, assisted by international team-mate Joao Rojas.^[9] After the latter left Los Canarios he was given the number 10 shirt, starting off the new campaign on 19 July with a goal in a 3–1 victory over Querétaro FC; the following weekend he netted three past Deportivo Toluca FC, but in a 3–4 home defeat.

Swansea City

On 24 July 2014, Montero signed for Premier League team Swansea City on a four-year deal for an undisclosed fee.^[10] He made his competitive debut on 16 August in the opening game of the season at Old Trafford, replacing Nathan Dyer after 67 minutes of an eventual 2–1 win over Manchester United.^[11]

International career

Montero playing for Ecuador in 2015.

Montero represented Ecuador in the 2007 Pan American Games, scoring in the final match against Jamaica, a 2–1 win which brought the first international trophy in Ecuadorian football history.^[12] He received his first senior international call-up from national team coach Luis Fernando Suárez, in an August 2007 friendly with Bolivia.^[13]

Montero made his full debut for Ecuador in a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Peru, coming on late in the second half in a 5–1 home win.^[14] He scored his first goal for the national team on 27 May 2009, in a 1–3 friendly loss with El Salvador. On 7 June he netted his second, in another victory over Peru in the World Cup qualifying campaign, now 2–1 in Lima.

Montero was selected by national coach Reinaldo Rueda for his 2014 World Cup squad,^[15] making his debut in the tournament on 15 June in a 1–2 group stage loss against Switzerland, where he started and played 77 minutes.^[16]

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	27 May 2009	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, United States	El Salvador	0–1	3–1	Friendly
2	7 June 2009	Monumental "U", Lima, Peru	Peru	0–1	1–2	2010 World Cup qualification
3	15 August 2012	Citi Field, New York City, United States	Chile	3–0	3–0	Friendly
4	21 March 2013	Olímpico Atahualpa, Quito, Ecuador	El Salvador	4–0	5–0	Friendly
5	26 March 2013	Olímpico Atahualpa, Quito, Ecuador	Paraguay	2–1	4–1	2014 World Cup qualification
6				4–1
7	11 October 2013	Olímpico Atahualpa, Quito, Ecuador	Uruguay	1–0	1–0	2014 World Cup qualification
8	17 May 2014	Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam, Netherlands	Netherlands	1–0	1–1	Friendly
9	6 June 2015	George Capwell, Guayaquil, Ecuador	Panama	4–0	4–0	Friendly
10	17 November 2015	Polideportivo Cachamay, Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela	Venezuela	2–0	3–1	2018 World Cup qualification

Statistics

Club

As of 21 May 2016^[17]

Club	Season	League			Cup		League Cup		Continental		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Emelec	2007	Serie A	22	2	–		–		0	0	22	2
Independiente	2008	Serie B	26	8	–		–		–		26	8
Dorados	2008–09	Ascenso MX	5	1	0	0	–		–		5	1
Independiente	2009	Serie B	16	14	–		–		–		16	14
Villarreal B	2009–10	Segunda División	32	10	0	0	–		1	0	33	10
Villarreal	2010–11	La Liga	9	1	3	1	–		7	0	19	2
Levante	2010–11	La Liga	11	0	0	0	–		0	0	11	0
Betis	2011–12	La Liga	32	1	2	0	–		0	0	34	1
Morelia	2012–13	Liga MX	36	4	7	4	–		0	0	43	8
	2013–14	Liga MX	27	6	3	1	–		1	0	31	7
	Total		63	10	15	6	—		1	0	74	15
Swansea City	2014–15	Premier League	30	1	1	0	3	0	0	0	34	1
	2015–16	Premier League	23	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	24	0
	Total		53	1	2	1	3	0	0	0	58	1
Career total			269	48	17	7	3	0	9	0	298	55

International

As of 7 September 2016

Ecuador
Year	Apps	Goals
2007	1	0
2008	2	0
2009	8	2
2010	2	0
2011	4	0
2012	7	1
2013	12	4
2014	7	1
2015	10	2
2016	9	0
Total	62	10

Honours

^[18]

Club

Morelia

• Copa MX: Apertura 2013

Country

Ecuador U20

• Pan American Games: 2007

References

1. "Squads for 2016/17 Premier League confirmed". Premier League. 1 September 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
2. "Player profile". Premier League. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
3. El Villarreal CF ficha a Jefferson Montero (Villarreal CF signs Jefferson Montero); Villarreal CF, 27 April 2009 (Spanish)
4. Villarreal hammer Spanish minnows; BBC Sport, 20 July 2009
5. "Jefferson Montero ya es verdiblanco" [Jefferson Montero is already green-and-white] (in Spanish). Real Betis. 29 June 2011. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
6. "Crónica del Betis-Real Madrid, 2–3" [Betis-Real Madrid, 2–3 match report] (in Spanish). Europa Press. 11 March 2012. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
7. Confirma Morelia a Jefferson Montero (Morelia confirms Jefferson Montero); Medio Tiempo, 15 June 2012 (Spanish)
8. "Morelia 6–0 Dorados... Monarcas no tuvo piedad" [Morelia 6–0 Dorados... Monarcas showed no mercy] (in Spanish). Medio Tiempo. 21 August 2012. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
9. "Morelia 3–3 Cruz Azul". ESPN FC. 4 January 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
10. "Swans sign World Cup winger Montero". Swansea City A.F.C. 24 July 2014. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
11. Bevan, Chris (16 August 2014). "Man Utd 1–2 Swansea". BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
12. Panamerican Games 2007 (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil); at RSSSF
13. "Ecuador convoca a ocho internacionales para el amistoso contra Bolivia" [Ecuador calls eight internationals for friendly with Bolivia] (in Spanish). Yahoo! Sports. 14 August 2007. Retrieved 21 February 2008.
14. "Ecuador 5–1 Peru: Ecuador get first qualifying win". ESPN Soccernet. 21 November 2007. Retrieved 21 February 2008.
15. "Ecuador World Cup 2014 squad". The Daily Telegraph. 3 June 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
16. "Last-gasp Seferovic snatches Switzerland victory". FIFA.com. 15 June 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
17. "J. Montero". Soccerway. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
18. "Swansea City sign Jefferson Montero". Squawka. 24 July 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2014.

External links

• Jefferson Montero profile at BDFutbol
• Jefferson Montero Liga MX stats at Medio Tiempo.com (Spanish)
• Jefferson Montero at National-Football-Teams.com
• Jefferson Montero – FIFA competition record