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RUBÉN CASTRO MARTÍN
Date of Birth: 27 June 1981
Nationality: Spain
Contract: 2004 - 2011
Transfer: Rubén was signed, together with Momo, in a deal clearing the debt Las Palmas had for signing Schürrer in 2000 for ca. €3,6 million.
Previous Clubs: Las Palmas
Buy-out Clause: ?
Height: 172 cm
Weight: 69 kg
Position: Striker
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 The duo signing of Las Palmas striker RUBÉN and winger Momo in the summer of 2004 was much talked about. It was an idea of president Lendoiro to take these two talented players out of Las Palmas’ youth ranks. He probably knew beforehand that coach Irureta never had been too fond of inexperienced players. But as a consequence, Irureta didn’t make use of him and Caparrós only during half a season out of two. Now, three years later, he might return to the island.
HEROE AT THE ISLAND
Rubén was born and raised at the island of Gran Canaria, the third largest island of the Canary Islands. Coming from the capital Las Palmas, it was not a difficult choice that he joined UD Las Palmas in the 1990s. In 1999, at the age of 18, he was promoted to Las Palmas B and played at this reserve team for two years. The season 2000/2001 was his breakthrough at the club. He was elected as Crack de Tercera División - Grupo 12 by Spanish football magazine Don Balón and made his debut in the Primera División. Newly-promoted Las Palmas would finish at spot eleven that year with players like Schürrer (signed from Deportivo), captain Vinny Samways (ex-Tottenham Hotspur), Argentinean goalkeeper Nacho González, Brazilian defender Álvaro (who later was strongly linked to Deportivo), Croatian defender Jarni, Josic (who would later become an important part of Villarreal’s successful teams) and the talented trio, Guayre, Ángel and Jorge. Rubén made a total of three entries and played 19 minutes at the highest level.
 The next season Rubén (who describes himself as “a timid person who gives all for football”) became a more important player in the team, of which most remained unchanged. Rubén, who was 20 when the season started, lived through a dream on 3 October 2001 when Real Madrid visited the island. Suddenly the opposition consisted of Casillas, Hierro, Makelele, Zidane, Raúl, Munitis and Morientes. But proud Madrid had a very difficult start to the season and were only twelfth in the table when the match started. In the 64th minute, with the score 2-2, Rubén replaced Orlando and finished the match off with two goals (4-2). His name, obviously, was all over the newspapers during the next days. Later Rubén said about that night: “I will never going to forget that, it's impossible. Fernando Vázquez called me to go out of the bench and he gave me the opportunity to play. Eternally I will be thankful to him for that, he also trusted upon me for the rest of the season. Ten minutes after I entered to the pitch I scored the first goal (I almost printed myself against the post and broke my legs…) and soon the other (I had the ball outside of the area and I didn't doubt). The sensations were incredible. Those were my two first goals in Primera and it was the triumph of a modest team that fought very hard that season. The day after, everybody stopped by me on the street, congratulated to me... I don't know why, but the madness in Las Palmas with football isn’t normal. The people live to the maximum the victories and also the misfortunes”.
Even so his name was in the papers after the day when he started his first match in Primera. He already had added 8 entries behind his name when on 4 November 2001 he played the match against Celta (4-2) from start to finish. Rubén, like in the match against Madrid, scored the two final goals of the home side which took them to spot eleven in the table. But when May 2002 arrived, the fairytale of Las Palmas ended with another drop back to Segunda A. In total, Rubén had started seven matches, made twenty-two entries as a sub and reached a total of 1170 Liga minutes (the equivalent of 13 full matches). This made his goal-record pretty astonishing: 5 goals. His fifth had been a late equalizer in December 2001 at home against Osasuna (1-1). This means that he didn’t score a goal in the first part of 2002 and only started two matches in that period. Rubén’s faith would be the Segunda A in the next two seasons.
 TIME TO MOVE ONE
When he turned 23 in June 2004, his period at the second level in Spain only confirmed that he is a natural goalscoring striker. He scored a total of 31 goals in 80 matches of which 22 in the season 2003/2004. In that year, he played together with Momo who was outstanding. The performance of both young players is even more to be appreciated as Las Palmas again dropped down: from Segunda A to Segunda B. During that same period, Deportivo themselves had a veteran squad but had just played the Semi Finals of the Champions League against FC Porto and finished third in the Primera División. The striking zone could need some more additions though because only Diego Tristán and Walter Pandiani (both 28) were used as centre strikers while Albert Luque and Pedro Munitis played on the wings.
Rubén, who had played for the Spanish U-21 team, already had become a Deportivo player by then. It was more and more known that Deportivo had financial troubles and it was evident that the squad needed fresh blood. In January of that year, Lendoiro announced a pre-deal for Rubén to solve the debt Las Palmas had for Schürrer. It was agreed that Rubén would be loaned out to the island club for the season 2004/2005, but Rubén made clear that he would only be interested in that construction if his team would be promoted to the Primera División. But when the season came to an end, Las Palmas were looking to alternatives to relieve their financial problems. Betis Sevilla were mentioned as being interested in Rubén, but also English giants Arsenal and Chelsea.
Still, Deportivo had their pre-contract about Rubén and in June 2004 it was for the Galicians to make a final decision. At the same time, Deportivo were (still) considered a big club and newspapers linked strikers like David Villa (Zaragoza), Raúl Tamudo (Espanyol) and Samuel Eto’o to them. This made it quite clear that, according to the media, Deportivo were looking for a proven striker at the highest level. This is why the move of Rubén immediately was related with a loan out of the player. Before the season ended, Rubén said about that: "My Illusion is to play at Deportivo and at least I want a chance in the pre-season. Then they will have to decide. I have no fear for anything as I want to win the Liga and the Champions League. I am full of illusion and want to give all to my new team. I want to promise the supporters of Deportivo sacrifice, hard work and goals”. But a deal still wasn’t done. It seemed that Lendoiro wanted to take more out of a deal and winger Momo was mentioned. There was also talking about Carmelo (21), a technical player capable of playing as second striker or at the right wing and Spanish international in all youth categories. But this deal was never materialized.
 CONFIRMED TRANSFER TO DEPORTIVO
On 10 June 2004 a deal was officially announced between the two clubs which took both Rubén and Momo (he had a contract until June 2005) away from the island in exchange for the debt the island club had with Deportivo for signing Schürrer in 2000 (€3,6 million). Since then, Las Palmas had suffered huge financial problems and Lendoiro had threatened to break off negotiations for Rubén Castro if Momo wasn’t included. Lendoiro also achieved a cooperation with Las Palmas meaning that the Galicians will have some sort of preferred treatment concerning Las Palmas youth players. Rubén Castro signed a contract for seven years. When he a deal eventually was done, Rubén described himself in the Galician press as follows: “I think I am fast and a skilful player who knows how to handle in the box. I don’t think twice when I get a shooting opportunity”. About Deportivo he said that “it’s a dream for me like it would be to anyone. It is a big club and a signing for them is a something to be proud of”.
On 8 July 2004 both Rubén and Momo were officially presented at the club. Their signings raised expectations among Depor’s supporters because the year before only two goalkeepers (Songo’o and Munúa) and Pedro Munitis (on a free transfer) had arrived at the club, while Donato and Makaay left. But already before the deal with Rubén and Momo was done, there were negotiations about their future on loan at other clubs. Like Albacete, as both players could have been included in a deal for defender Pablo Ibáñez. This deal fell through, and clubs like Málaga, Racing and Mallorca were added to the list of interested clubs. During the pre-season, both players impressed. Rubén with his goals (he even was Depor’s topscorer) and Momo with his fine performances. Rubén said: “I don’t have fear to play in the Primera División and in fact I am looking forward to convince the coach. I have come to La Coruña to stay here”. Rubén played against Atlético de Madrid in the Teresa Herrera tournament. But at the end of August it was finally decided that the trio of Rubén, Momo and Jaime Sánchez would play the season on loan at Albacete. Irureta decided to stick to the more experienced players.
 2004/2005: LOST YEAR AT ALBACETE
Like the loan of Momo, the time of Rubén at Albacete wasn’t really what was expected of it. Rubén was a normal squad player during the season 2004/2005 and played now and then. He scored three goals, of which only his winner against Athlétic de Bilbao (1-0) earned his side something. Rubén started 14 matches, entered in another 8 and played a total of 1164 minutes (the equivalent of almost 13 full matches). During the season, it remained rather quiet about both Momo and Rubén who had been Depor’s only new players in the summer of 2004. He could not be lined-up against Deportivo though because a clause in his contract forbade this. This is the situation when he returned to the club under new coach Joaquin Caparrós.
Rubén’s advantage was that (again) Deportivo didn’t have much to invest that summer while Walter Pandiani left the club on a permanant basis. This would give Rubén, and Deportivo B striker Xisco (who had made his Primera debut under Irureta), opportunities. But the fact that both Momo and Rubén would stay at Deportivo for the season 2005/2006 also had to do with their performances during the pre-season which were convincing to Caparrós. Especially Rubén impressed with his goals. He scored two in two matches against Slaven in the Intertoto Cup and scored goals in Riazor against Newcastle and Marseille. He started all four matches against these two big teams. At the end of Augustus it was finally decided that both Momo and Rubén would stay at the club.
2005/2006: NO CONSISTENCY UNDER CAPARRÓS
This is how Rubén (24 by then) ended up in Depor’s squad for the season 2005/2006. But like at Albacete, nor this time did he became important at a Primera club. His numbers for the season resembled much the ones of the previous season: 13 starting places, 11 entries and a total of 1078 Liga minutes (the equivalent of almost 12 full Liga matches). Also, his amount of goals remained the same: three. The main problem was that Caparrós trusted upon Tristán and Munitis (at the right) upfront who would play most of the matches. Rubén was on occasions used as winger on the right, which also caused rivalry of Víctor Sánchez and De Guzmán. Meanwhile, the winter signing of Javier Arizmendi heavily influenced Rubén’s playing minutes and in the second part of the campaign Xisco came more in the picture. It could have been even worse if new signing Taborda hadn’t been injured that much.
 There were highlights though, like Rubén’s late equalizer (as a substitute) against FC Barcelona (3-3) on 15 October 2005 when the team had been 1-3 down. Rubén showed his instinct after Taborda had fired a thundering shot against the post in the 86th minute. Also, his injury-time goal (again as a substitute and a difficult one after Romero’s pass) on 12 February 2006 earned Deportivo three valuable points at Betis Sevilla (0-1). Those were his best days because he scored a goal at Atlético two match days earlier and one in the Copa del Rey against Espanyol on 9 February 2006. Also, Rubén was related to AC Parma during the winter and did have the confidence of Caparrós when at the start of the season he started 6 of the 8 first Liga matches. But goals those weeks stayed away. Rubén said back then: “These are tough days. I had a clear chance to score against Real Sociedad and after it I thought about it many times. Every time I repeat the play in my head and realise that it was an easy one. I scored hundreds of goals like that. I also had a clear chance against Zaragoza and I couldn't make it. It's clear that you need to have chances in order to miss them, but it always hurt you when you fail”.
2006/2007: LOAN DEALS AT RACING AND GIMNÁSTIC
Rubén’s future always seemed attached to the one of Momo. They played at Las Palmas at the same time, where signed by Deportivo in 2004, were loaned out to Albacete and both were in Depor’s squad for the season 2005/2006. Nor last season where they separated when both were loaned to Racing de Santander. In Rubén’s case this had much to do with new signings Riki, Bodipo and Adrián López, the presence of Arizmendi and Taborda, wingers Cristián and Estoyanoff and the presence of Deportivo B striker Rubén Rivera. Early August a deal was struck with Racing de Santander, which saw goalkeeper Aouate going to La Coruña, Deportivo acquiring rights of midfielder Antonio Tomás, Munitis going to Santander on a permanent basis and Momo and Rubén on loan. It caused a small incident though, when coach Caparrós assumed he would have a normal squad to work with when the season started, but several of the rejected players (like Momo and Rubén) still appeared at the first training session.
 The period at Racing was terrible to Rubén because he only entered one match (on 10 September against Getafe). The striker never convinced Racing coach Portugal but aroused the interest of relegation-troubled Gimnástic de Tarragona after Óscar López sustained an injury which would keep him sidelined until June. In Catalunya he quickly became a hero by scoring three goals in 142 minutes. But only his late goal against Levante (as a substitute) earned his side points (2-1). In February 2007 his injury-time goal against Valencia (1-1) was his final one that campaign. Again, as many times before in Primera, he scored coming on as a substitute.
Rubén started the pre-season with Deportivo on 16 July at Vilalba. It’s probably his final chance to survive at Deportivo. Two coaches didn’t have too much confidence in him (Irureta and Caparrós) and Lotina will be his third judge. Of his three loan spells, only the one at Gimnástic de Tarragona was successful. It showed once more that Rubén is very successful when entering the pitch as a substitute. In fact, at Deportivo all his 3 Liga goals he scored coming from the bench. At Gimnástic he scored 3 goals out of 4 in the same role. That makes it 7 goals out of a total of 8 in two years. But is Lotina looking for such a substitute role for him? It seems unlikely. Rubén is 26 already and it’s more than six years ago since he made his debut at the highest level. Rubén is too old to be loaned out again, and probably it’s not his preference either. But is Lotina willing to sacrifice either experienced Riki, Taborda and Bodipo or talented Adrián López and Xisco for his place?
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