Tribute to Jose Antonio Reyes - 1 September 1983 - 1 June 2019
JOSE ANTONIO REYES was only 35 when he was killed in a car crash near his hometown of Utrera in Spain on 1 June 2019. The Mercedes he was driving encountered steering problems and he was killed instantly along with his cousin Jonathan Reyes when the car hit concrete barriers at the side of the motorway and burst into flames. Another cousin, Juan Manuel Calderon, suffered serious injuries in the collision although he would survive.
At the time of his death, Reyes had been playing for Extremadura in the Spanish second tier, a far cry from his glory days as part of the Arsenal Invincibles team and winner of a record five Europa Leagues with Atletico Madrid and Sevilla.
Jose Antonio Reyes Calderon was born in Utrera, a province of Seville, on 1 September 1983 and joined this local club, Sevilla, aged 10.
He represented the club at all youth levels before making his first team debut aged just 16 against Real Zaragoza in 1999.
Reyes became a regular in the Sevilla side in 2001 and over the next three seasons he scored 24 goals in 96 appearances, attracting clubs from all around Europe.
Despite manager Joaquin Capparros insisting he wanted to keep him, Reyes joined for Arsenal in January 2004 for an initial fee of £10.5 million, although it would rise to £17 million in add-ons, making him at the time the club's record signing.
Seen as the long term replacement for Robert Pires, left footed winger Reyes was the first in the new breed of Arsene Wenger signings; quick, technical players but lacking in physicality.
After his debut at home to Manchester City on 1 February 2004, coming on for Dennis Bergkamp of all people, his first start was away at Middlesbrough in the second leg of the League Cup semi final just two days later.
In perhaps an over-eagerness to track back and make an impression, Reyes scored an unfortunate own goal as Arsenal lost 2-1 on the night and 3-1 on aggregate. Not the most auspicious of starts to his career in England then.
But if you want to announce yourself in the English game what better way to do so than to score two goals in an FA Cup quarter final. The fact that they came at Highbury against London rivals Chelsea and turned a 0-1 deficit into a 2-1 victory meant the young Spaniard instantly won a place in the hearts of his new fans.
The first goal was quite remarkable; a left footed drive from 35 yards out that arrowed into the postage stamp in the top left hand corner of Carlo Cudicini's net. Hit with such power and accuracy two goalkeepers would not have saved it.
Despite that explosive start, Reyes was in and out of the side in the remainder of the 2003/04 season as Arsenal chased the league title; tending to play if either Bergkamp or Pires was rested, generally supporting Thierry Henry from the left.
Reyes made a late appearance from the bench as the title was won at White Hart Lane on 25 April 2004, and he started the next three games as Arsenal tried to close out the season unbeaten.
The second of those games was away at Portsmouth on 4 May and trailing 1-0, Arsenal was facing a first league defeat of the season.
But Reyes drilled home a left footed volley early in the second half to keep the unbeaten record intact, and he followed that up with the winner at Fulham three days later.
Reyes ended his first season in North London with five goals in 21 appearances, although it was at the start of the following 2004/05 season that the young Spaniard really showed what he could do, scoring in each of the first six matches.
Against Middlesbrough on 22 August 2004 and with Arsenal's unbeaten run about to come to an end just one short of Nottingham Forest's record of 42 matches, Reyes was instrumental in the turnaround as Arsenal came back from 3-1 down to win 5-3, a great way to avenge the own goal against them from the previous season.
That would prove to be the peak of his career at Highbury, however. After getting literally kicked out of the game at Old Trafford against Manchester United on 24 October 2004, Reyes was never quite the same player again.
With Henry injured, Reyes did start the 2005 FA Cup final against United in Cardiff, although he would become only the second player to be sent off an FA Cup final following two yellow cards in extra time. He was still allowed to collect his winners medal though as Arsenal triumphed 5-4 on penalties.
Reyes had a very inconsistent 2005/06 season domestically but he did feature heavily in the club's run to the Champions League final, European matches perhaps better suited to his more fragile talents.
However he was only named on the bench for the final against Barcelona in Paris on 17 May 2006, and he would never play for the club again.
In the end Reyes had appeared 110 times for Arsenal, scoring 23 goals.
Reyes joined Real Madrid on loan in August 2006, where he would win the La Liga title in 2006/07, before signing for Atletico Madrid for £10 million in the summer of 2007.
Reyes went on loan again in the 2008/09 season to Benfica, picking up his third league title winners medal, before returning to Atletico and winning the Europa League in both the 2009/10 and 2011/12 seasons.
After losing his place in the Madrid team, Reyes rejoined Sevilla in January 2012 after making 154 appearances for Atletico, scoring 14 goals.
Back at Sevilla, Reyes won the Europa League in 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16 to become the first player to win the competition five times.
After leaving Sevilla in 2016 following a further 157 appearances and 15 goals, Reyes, then 32, spent a season at Espanyol before dropping down to the second tier with first Codobra and then Extremadura in 2018/19 season, in between a brief spell in China with Xinjiang Tianshan Leopard in 2018.
Without a club at the time of his death as his contract at Exremadura had expired, Reyes won 21 caps for Spain and played at the 2006 World Cup. He later won one cap for the Andalusia autonomous team.
Reyes' funeral in Utrera on 3 June 2019 was attended by thousands of mourners and the Mayor announced two days of official mourning, such was his popularity in the local area.
I was shocked and saddened to hear about his death, such a young life taken far too soon.
My personal memories of Reyes are mainly of his fine start to the 2004/05 season. The game against Middlesbrough really sticks in the mind as without his contribution we would have fallen at the final hurdle, and of course the goals against Chelsea and Portsmouth towards the end of the previous season were really important as well.
It was a shame he never completely settled at Arsenal as he certainly had the potential to be a great player. In the end maybe the physical nature of the Premier League was not for him and he never fully recovered from the kicking he took at the hands of the Neville brothers at Old Trafford.
RIP Jose
Jose Antonio Reyes Calderon was born in Utrera, a province of Seville, on 1 September 1983 and joined this local club, Sevilla, aged 10.
He represented the club at all youth levels before making his first team debut aged just 16 against Real Zaragoza in 1999.
Reyes became a regular in the Sevilla side in 2001 and over the next three seasons he scored 24 goals in 96 appearances, attracting clubs from all around Europe.
Despite manager Joaquin Capparros insisting he wanted to keep him, Reyes joined for Arsenal in January 2004 for an initial fee of £10.5 million, although it would rise to £17 million in add-ons, making him at the time the club's record signing.
Seen as the long term replacement for Robert Pires, left footed winger Reyes was the first in the new breed of Arsene Wenger signings; quick, technical players but lacking in physicality.
After his debut at home to Manchester City on 1 February 2004, coming on for Dennis Bergkamp of all people, his first start was away at Middlesbrough in the second leg of the League Cup semi final just two days later.
In perhaps an over-eagerness to track back and make an impression, Reyes scored an unfortunate own goal as Arsenal lost 2-1 on the night and 3-1 on aggregate. Not the most auspicious of starts to his career in England then.
But if you want to announce yourself in the English game what better way to do so than to score two goals in an FA Cup quarter final. The fact that they came at Highbury against London rivals Chelsea and turned a 0-1 deficit into a 2-1 victory meant the young Spaniard instantly won a place in the hearts of his new fans.
The first goal was quite remarkable; a left footed drive from 35 yards out that arrowed into the postage stamp in the top left hand corner of Carlo Cudicini's net. Hit with such power and accuracy two goalkeepers would not have saved it.
Despite that explosive start, Reyes was in and out of the side in the remainder of the 2003/04 season as Arsenal chased the league title; tending to play if either Bergkamp or Pires was rested, generally supporting Thierry Henry from the left.
The second of those games was away at Portsmouth on 4 May and trailing 1-0, Arsenal was facing a first league defeat of the season.
But Reyes drilled home a left footed volley early in the second half to keep the unbeaten record intact, and he followed that up with the winner at Fulham three days later.
Reyes ended his first season in North London with five goals in 21 appearances, although it was at the start of the following 2004/05 season that the young Spaniard really showed what he could do, scoring in each of the first six matches.
Against Middlesbrough on 22 August 2004 and with Arsenal's unbeaten run about to come to an end just one short of Nottingham Forest's record of 42 matches, Reyes was instrumental in the turnaround as Arsenal came back from 3-1 down to win 5-3, a great way to avenge the own goal against them from the previous season.
That would prove to be the peak of his career at Highbury, however. After getting literally kicked out of the game at Old Trafford against Manchester United on 24 October 2004, Reyes was never quite the same player again.
With Henry injured, Reyes did start the 2005 FA Cup final against United in Cardiff, although he would become only the second player to be sent off an FA Cup final following two yellow cards in extra time. He was still allowed to collect his winners medal though as Arsenal triumphed 5-4 on penalties.
However he was only named on the bench for the final against Barcelona in Paris on 17 May 2006, and he would never play for the club again.
In the end Reyes had appeared 110 times for Arsenal, scoring 23 goals.
Reyes joined Real Madrid on loan in August 2006, where he would win the La Liga title in 2006/07, before signing for Atletico Madrid for £10 million in the summer of 2007.
Reyes went on loan again in the 2008/09 season to Benfica, picking up his third league title winners medal, before returning to Atletico and winning the Europa League in both the 2009/10 and 2011/12 seasons.
After losing his place in the Madrid team, Reyes rejoined Sevilla in January 2012 after making 154 appearances for Atletico, scoring 14 goals.
Back at Sevilla, Reyes won the Europa League in 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16 to become the first player to win the competition five times.
After leaving Sevilla in 2016 following a further 157 appearances and 15 goals, Reyes, then 32, spent a season at Espanyol before dropping down to the second tier with first Codobra and then Extremadura in 2018/19 season, in between a brief spell in China with Xinjiang Tianshan Leopard in 2018.
Reyes' funeral in Utrera on 3 June 2019 was attended by thousands of mourners and the Mayor announced two days of official mourning, such was his popularity in the local area.
I was shocked and saddened to hear about his death, such a young life taken far too soon.
My personal memories of Reyes are mainly of his fine start to the 2004/05 season. The game against Middlesbrough really sticks in the mind as without his contribution we would have fallen at the final hurdle, and of course the goals against Chelsea and Portsmouth towards the end of the previous season were really important as well.
It was a shame he never completely settled at Arsenal as he certainly had the potential to be a great player. In the end maybe the physical nature of the Premier League was not for him and he never fully recovered from the kicking he took at the hands of the Neville brothers at Old Trafford.
RIP Jose
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