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CARLOS ALCÁNTARA CUEVAS
Date of Birth: 1 February 1985
Nationality: Spain
Contract: 2006 - 2009
Transfer: ? (2006)
Previous Clubs: Cartagena (2007-2008, loan), Real Jaén (2006-2007, loan), Villarreal (2001-2006), Nueva Vanguardia (2000-2001)
Buy-out Clause: ?
Height: 178 cm
Weight: 73 kg
Position: Defender (left)
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ALCÁNTARA is a left defender who until today has not been included in Deportivo’s first squad yet; he just played one game with the B-team. He was signed in August 2006 and had the aspects coach Caparrós always looks for: young, compromised and wishing to progress. However, the ex-Villarreal player was loaned out to Real Jaén for the season 2006/2007 and such an operation was repeated for the 2007/2008 campaign, this time to Cartagena, a club from Segunda B. It’s highly unlikely that Alcántara will claim a spot at the first team this season.
The defender was born in Murcia (close to Cartagena) and started to play football at an early age at a club called Nueva Vanguardia. He was signed by regional power Villarreal when he was 16-years old. Coach Pellegrini liked his qualities and allowed him a debut with the first team on 17 October 2004. Villarreal finished third that season and that night Alcántara played the full ninety minutes at Mallorca (1-1). In November he entered the home match against Osasuna (3-0) with seventeen minutes remaining. That was it for that season for 19-years old Alcántara. Not strange knowing that his rivals at the left were Argentineans Arruabarrena (at the club since 2000) and Sorín.
More of the same during the 2005/2006 campaign with both Argentineans being part of the team which almost qualified for the Champions League final that season. Alcántara still played three matches, all from start to end. As a coincidence two of them were against Real Sociedad. It led to a total of five Liga matches in two seasons of which four from start to finish. By then Alcántara also had gained some European experience. In the UEFA Cup campaign of 2004/2005 he debuted against Hammarby. He also played in the Intertoto cup and in two Copa del Rey confrontations against Valencia.
 But in 2006 his career at Villarreal ended when the club signed José Enrique (20) from Celta de Vigo, although Sorín departed to Hamburger SV. With Arruabarrena still present, coach Pellegrini made clear his preferences and decided that Alcántara could leave Villarreal. Lendoiro showed interest and the player himself preferred Deportivo above Celta and Sevilla, partly because of the presence of coach Caparrós. Another motive was, according to Alcántara, the “absence of many players at the left side. I hope to learn from Capdevila and will work hard. In the end I hope to form part of the first squad”. It was arranged that Deportivo would pay an amount depending on the amount of matches played by Alcántara. It seems that Villarreal will also receive a certain percentage of a possible sale in the future. According to the player “negotiations already had been going on for a while between me and Deportivo” before a deal was finally sealed.
Alcántara, who is named after a small municipality in the province of Cáceres (Extremadura), is also a Business Administration student besides being a football player. As a player he has been described as a defensive ‘lock’ who doesn’t like to assist when attacking. But Alcántara denies this. “It’s true that I had troubles with the offensive aspect before. Coach Pellegrini pushed me though to do more. Nowadays I don’t have any problem anymore with being a more offensive player”. About Villarreal he said: “It’s always difficult to leave a club where I have grown a lot at a personal level and as a professional player. It will be the first time that I leave my region and with it will leave friends behind. But I won’t regret that and hope that things will go well”.
At Deportivo he didn’t enter into the first squad for the season 2006/2007 though. A loan deal was agreed with Jaén from the Segunda División B Grupo IV. But Alcántara was unlucky and he suffered an injury that left him out for some weeks, at least he was starter on the left side in defence during the half of the season. The exit of Caparrós awoke his hopes of returning to La Coruña, but his luck didn't change with Lotina's arrival. Alcántara was discarded once again, this time without the opportunity to train with the first squad. On 30 July 2007 the club announced that he was going on loan to Cartagena (Segunda B). Because of the developments at Deportivo, where Filipe started to shine at the left side, the chances are very, very small that Alcántara will be in Deportivo’s squad for the season 2008/2009. And with his contract running out next year, a final move to another club seems realistic. Added to this is that, according to Alcántara, “nobody from the club has contacted me, not last year and not this year. There was some contact with my agent, but nothing more”.
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