Juan Pablo Colinas Ferreras (Juan Pablo), the 34-year-old goalkeeper who has spent the last four seasons at Spanish side Sporting Gijon, has agreed a one-year deal at Maccabi Tel Aviv
With just a week to go before the club's second round Champions League qualifier at Hungarian champions FC Gyori, Maccabi Tel Aviv have agreed a deal to bring in a new goalkeeper. Juan Pablo Colinas Ferreras, who was born in the city of Leon in the north of Spain in 1978, spent the last four seasons as the first-choice goalkeeper at Spanish side Sporting Gijon, the first three in the first division until the club's relegation at the end of the 2011/12 season.
The 6 foot 2 inch Juan Pablo, as he is popularly known, began his career at the youth academy of club Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa in his home town of Leon, where he played in the senior squad from 1998 until moving on to the Spanish side Deportivo Alavés in 2000. After two seasons in the reserve team and another three in the first team, Colinas saw the opportunity in the 2005/6 season to become first-choice goalkeeper at CD Numancia, then in Spain's first division. After two seasons he moved on to CD Tenerife for the 2007/8 season before returning to Numancia for one additional season. In 2009 he settled in at Sporting Gijon from the Spanish principality of Asturias where he made 120 appearances in the last four years, the first three with the club playing in the first division.
After agreeing terms, Juan Pablo, who is set to undergo a medical tomorrow, told the club's official website: "I am happy to join Maccabi Tel Aviv and hope to do my best in order to help the club achieve their goals and succeed. I heard from (former Maccabi assistant coach)Gerard Autet, who I played with for a season and a half at Gijon, that Maccabi are a great club to play for and Tel Aviv a nice city to live in". Maccabi's sports director Jordi Cruyff added: "We are pleased to have join the club such an experienced goalkeeper who played five years in the Spanish first division. I'm confident Juan Pablo will be able to help us achieve our goals".
