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JULIO SALINAS FERNÁNDEZ
Date of Birth: 11 September, 1962
Nationality: Spain (international from 1986 until 1996)
Period at Deportivo: 1994 - 1995
Transfer: (1994, from FC Barcelona)
Clubs: Alavés (1998-2000), Yokohama Marinos (1997-1998), Sporting de Gijón (1995-1997), Deportivo (1994-1995), FC Barcelona (1988-1994), Atlético de Madrid (1986-1988), Athlétic de Bilbao (1982-1986), Athlétic de Bilbao B
Sold: (1995, to Sporting de Gijón)
Height: 188 cm
Weight: 82 kg
Position: Attacker (central)
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 Bilbao-born striker JULIO SALINAS was 20-years old when he made his Liga debut for Athlétic de Bilbao on 3 October, 1982. It concerned a substitution against Real Zaragoza, and he would experience six more of these during the season which ended up in Athlétic winning the Liga. Julio Salinas was brought slowly that time, and on 29 October of the next year he would start his first match at the club. During the previous season he had produced one goal, but didn't found the net in the 1983/1984 campaign. Still, being just 21 he could celebrate his second consecutive title win with the Basque club.
Julio Salinas was born to be lucky, and acquired a starting place at the club during the next two campaigns. He scored eighth goals in the season 1984/1985, among which against Barcelona and Real Madrid, when he played twenty-eighth matches. But one season later he produced only four goals in twenty-seven matches and both parties agreed on a move to Atlético de Madrid.
Winning two championships in his first two seasons might have accelerated his career too fast, because the tall and opportunistic striker couldn't take Bilbao higher than position number three in both those seasons. But at Atlético de Madrid his talent started to blossom. He produced thirty-one Liga goals for them in seventy-five matches, among which seven in January and February, 1988.
Still being a Bilbao player, he already had made his scoring debut in the Spanish national team on 22 January, 1986 against the Soviet Union. He was included in the Spanish squad for the World Cup 1986 tournament in Mexico where he produced a goal against Northern-Ireland (2-1). He also was present at the Euro 1988 tournament in Germany, but Spain failed to qualify from the group phase.
But at the age of 25 his career had gained a big boost, and in 1988 Barcelona knocked on his door. A transfer to the Catalan club was materialized, and under Johan Cruyff he would experience the best days of his career. Barcelona finished second in his first season at the Nou Camp, third in his second campaign, but won four consecutive titles from 1991 until 1994. In his first three seasons at the club he was their main striker, playing 104 Liga matches and scoring 46 goals.
 His final three seasons at the club, the last three of the four championships in a row, saw his status being downgraded. Hristo Stoichkov started to occupy headlines and the club had other attacking alternatives with Bakero, Beguiristain and Laudrup. From 1991 until 1993 he played just thirty-five Liga matches and produced twelve goals. The final blow to his career at the Catalan club came in 1993 when Romario was signed. As the Brazilian scored thirty goals during the 1993/1994 season, Julio Salinas stuck to two goals in seven appearances (both produced in the match against Albacete).
Being 31-years old, he was approached by Deportivo who always had been interested in experienced, and cheap, Spanish players. That's how he ended up in the Galician city, immediately producing a vital goal in his first match on 18 September, 1994 against Racing de Santander (2-1). The striker reached playing twenty-four matches that campaign at the side of Bebeto, but in most of them was taken off.
He was signed to score goals, and he did so. He produced a total of twelve goals in the Liga that season, including five goals in three consecutive matches at the end of 1994. He will have been delighted with the injury-time equalizer he produced at the Nou Camp that time, after he had replaced Kostadinov with just twelve minutes remaining (1-1). Julio Salinas finished that season in style, by producing a hat-trick in an incredible 2-8 win against José Molina's Albacete.
Deportivo needed fresh blood though as they fielded many veteran players close to their career ends, and signed 24-year old Dmitri Radchenko in the summer of 1995. Because Bebeto and Manjarín also were still present, Julio Salinas was allowed to sign at Sporting de Gijón. Again Julio Salinas might not have impressed with his appearances, as he lacked technical qualities and neither was a good header, but he did what he was good at. And Deportivo would miss it.
At the Asturian club, his fifth in Spain, Julio Salinas continued producing goals. Despite finishing twice at the bottom part of the table, he scored twenty-four goals for them in fifty-four matches. He scored eighteen of them in the season 1995/1996, the one after leaving Deportivo and the Galician team desperately needing goals. His departure may have been premature. Ironically he would produce his final goal for Sporting de Gijón against a familiar side, beating Songo'o on 22, December 1996 to earn his side a point against Deportivo.
His international career also had been extended during the season after leaving Deportivo. Julio Salinas was the main striker of the Spanish squad since 1986 until the mid nineties, and scored against Yugoslavia at the World Cup 1990. But Spain were not able to quality for the Euro 1992 tournament in Sweden. He added a third tournament goal on 17 June, 1994 at the World Cup tournament against South-Korea before accepting the move to Deportivo. These were not his final goals in the Spanish shirt though, as being a Deportivo player made him score twice against Macedonia and once against Belgium at the end of 1994. His final match for Spain he would play on 22 June, 1996 when Spain were eliminated by England from the Euro 1996 tournament.
1996 might have been the end of his international career, this only concerned playing for Spain because during the season 1996/1997 he accepted a move to Japanese club Yokohama Marinos. At the age of 34 he started a new adventure in the Far East, and produced thirty-three goals for them in two campaigns.
Still he refused to end his career, and in December 1998 signed a contract at Alavés. He made his debut at the little Basque club on 10 January, 1999 and provoked the penalty kick leading to a 1-1 draw against Espanyol (Capdevila had given the Catalans the lead). He would play fifty Liga matches at them, scoring twelve goals (most of them being a substitute).
At the age of thirty-seven he converted a penalty kick in the home match against Deportivo, which the Basques won 2-1 and seriously endangered the title chances of the Galicians. Julio Salinas might have loved scoring against former clubs, because he would do it one more time: his final Liga goal he produced on 19 May, 2000… at San Mamés against Athlétic de Bilbao.
It made the circle round of an impressive career, which made him win six titles in Spain (1983, 1984, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994), an European Cup (1992), a Cup Winners’s Cup (1989, Salinas produced the first of the two goals of Barcelona against Sampdoria), an European Super Cup (1992), three times the Copa del Rey (with Athlétic, Barcelona and Deportivo) and two Spanish Supercopas (with Barcelona and Deportivo).
Julio Salinas played a total of 417 matches in the Spanish Liga and produced 152 goals in them. As a player of Spain he was present at three World Cups (1986, 1990, 1994) and two Euro tournaments (1988, 1996). He played fifty-six matches for Spain and scored twenty-goals for them. Despite he was just one season present at Deportivo, the club had experienced a legendary player in their squad.
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