RIERA: WATFORD CAREER IN SUMMARY

Albert Rieraterminated his contract with Turkish Super League giants Galatasaray and he signed a pre-contract agreement with Italian side Udinese shortly afterwards. He had earlier joined Galatasaray on a four-year deal during the summer’s transfer window in 2011. Albert Riera had 18 months left on his Galatasaray contract when he reached an agreement with the Turkish club to terminate the said contract for €750,000. In the latter stages of his career at Galatasaray, Riera played at left-back mainly due to the lack of options in the position other than HakanBalta who had fitness issues.

For the remainder of the 2013/14 season, Albert Riera joined Watford as a free agent. Watford and Udinese are under the same ownership though they are not in the same country. He signed for the Hornets until the end of the 2013/14 season having joined them three days after signing a pre-contract agreement with Udinese. His lone Watford goal came during the 3-1 win at home to Ipswich Town on April 19, 2014. He was a regular in the Watford starting XI until he was sent off for two yellow cards during the 3-1 loss to London club Charlton Athletic after a high challenge on Diego Poyet. After the game against Charlton, Riera was charged by the English FA (Football Association) for improper conduct for confronting the match officials and having to be led away following his red card. He was given a two-match ban though there was just one game left before the end of the season.

Albert Riera resumed as a player for Udinese in the Italian Serie A in the summer of 2014. However, his time at the club lasted for some months before he was sacked for attending a poker tournament rather than report for the league game against Chievo Verona.