On his 22nd Birthday – The Unfortunate Tale of Francisco Duran

The story of Liverpool midfielder Francisco Duran is kind of a sad one really. A very gifted footballer with a great deal of ability, the Spaniard has been hindered in his progress by three horrific injuries which have restricted him to playing only a very minor role in his three and half year stay at the club. Duran is 22 today but he still finds himself playing in the Reserve team because of all of his injury problems.

Duran left his family and friends to pursue his footballing career at the age of 13, leaving his home town of Almargen to play for Mortadelo in Malaga. Five years later he was picked up by Malaga and in a dramatic rise to prominence, found himself going straight from the youth team into a first team Copa del Rey match against Zaragoza, with the manager trying out some of the young players. He played the full ninety minutes, providing an assist during the match, and was subsequently picked for three successive league matches.

It was here where Liverpool’s chief scout Eduardo Macia spotted the youngster, and despite interest being shown from Arsenal, Liverpool beat the London club to his signature in January 2007. Duran had yet to sign a professional contract with Malaga and Liverpool were quick to pounce ahead of Arsenal and some other Spanish clubs, including Zaragoza. Considering the Spaniard had been playing youth team football only months before, everything moved very quickly for the then 18 year old.

He arrived on Merseyside with a knock he sustained in a match for Spain’s U19s and he made his debut for the reserves in February 2007. In his first match in a 1-0 victory over Bolton, he played for an hour, and showed his excellent passing abilities in the holding midfield role. Likened to Xabi Alonso, Duran is comfortable in possession and has a good eye for an opening, using both feet, to find fellow team-mates. In his second game for the club though he sustained a serious injury against Middlesbrough, an anterior cruciate knee ligament injury, which kept him out for the rest of the season. It was to be the start of a long list of injury problems Duran would face during his time at the club.

After nine months out, he returned to action mid way through the 2007/08 season in a mini-derby against Everton, only for him to re-injure the same knee two weeks later against Tottenham in a friendly. Another year out was on the cards, returning to the reserve team squad for a match versus Port Vale in September 2008 where he assisted one goal in a 4-1 victory. He looked as though he was finally getting on his feet after being plagued with injuries for so long, and he was fit for a few months. However, the injury curse came back to haunt him once again as he injured his other knee in January 2009. To date, Duran has had three knee operations, two on his right and one on his left, but his determination was demonstrated once again as after the best part of fifteen months out, he returned to the Reserves side starting at the end of March this year to help Liverpool beat Hull City. Reserves coach John McMahon heaped praise on his performance:

“You wouldn’t have thought Francis had been out for so long with that display. He was comfortable in possession. He was clever with his passing and his movement and always made himself available. We are delighted to see him back.”

For all his injuries, Duran still seems to have something about him. He is a very intelligent player, in the Alonso mould. Possessing a great touch, good distribution and good defensive positioning, the Spaniard has the potential to be a great footballer. He might not be such a great tackler, but his positioning is spot on, allowing him make a lot of interceptions to break up attacks. Like many Spaniards such as Alonso and Xavi, his technique is fantastic and he rarely gives away possession or provides a loose ball to a team-mate. This makes his play intelligent as he knows when to play a crucial pass and when to pass short to keep the ball. His vision however is also excellent and is very capable of playing in a vital through ball to set up a chance on goal. Combined with his knack of finding space to give an extra option to pass to, Duran has many of the capabilities to make it as a top class footballer. Whether he will is another question. At 22, and with three major injuries under his belt already, time maybe running out for the midfielder and let’s hope he can stay fit for longer than a few months. There will be questions as to whether he can cope with the physicality of the Premier League and whether he has lost some of his ability due to his long absences, but he is certainly the type of player who could really make an impact if his body allows him.