Jose Antonio Reyes was born in Utrera, a municipality of the Andalusian province, Seville. His talent was spotted from an early age as he signed for Sevilla at the tender age of 10. Reyes was rated highly from within the club and after featuring for all of their youth levels, many believed he would go on to become a club legend. 

At first, it appeared as though he would succeed. He signed his first professional contract at the age of 16, and it seemed he was destined to be written into Sevilla's history books.

After Sevilla were promoted in 2001, Reyes played a much more prominent role, featuring 92 times and scoring 24 goals over the course of three seasons. All was going to plan for the 20-year-old and it came as no surprise that his form alerted a number of top clubs across Europe.

Even though Sevilla manager Joaquín Caparrós wished to hang onto his future superstar, Reyes signed with Arsenal during the 2003-04 January transfer window. A transfer fee of £10.5 million was successfully negotiated and it could have rose to £17 million, depending on both the achievements of Arsenal and Reyes over the coming years.

His start to life in the England was like a yoyo. He had a horrendous start. In what was just his second game, he scored an own goal against Middlesbrough in the League Cup. However he went on to score some crucial goals throughout the remainder of the season including a brace against Chelsea to knock them out of the FA Cup. His goals in the penultimate two games of the season also helped maintain Arsenal's unbeaten run in the Premier League.

Despite showing signs of improvement during the pre-season of 2004, he continued to perform inconsistently. He scored in each of Arsenal's first six games but then scored just three goals throughout the remainder of the season.

In early 2005, it was reported that Reyes was homesick. This shocked the majority of people involved with Arsenal as his parents, Mari and Francisco, as well as his brother, Jesús, lived with him in England.

Reyes then ran into trouble with the media in February of 2005. The Spanish radio station, Cadena COPE, hired a prankster who claimed to be Emilio Butragueño, Real Madrid's Director of Football. He was supposedly speaking on behalf of the president of the club and suggested a possible transfer to Reyes' agent. The conversation revealed that Reyes had allegedly declared that life in London was far from what he had imagined and he would welcome a move back to Spain.

As a result of this Reyes was used sparingly, although he featured heavily in the cup competitions. But even that was in vain as he was sent off in the 2005-06 FA Cup final against Manchester United. This proved to be the final straw as in August 2006 he expressed a desire to not feature in Arsenal's Champions League qualifying match against Dinamo Zagreb so he would not become cup-tied, therefore preventing a potential transfer to Real Madrid.

Transfer deadline day loomed and it seemed like Reyes would run out of time to get his long anticipated move to Spain. Real Madrid were desperately trying to get their man and Wenger eventually gave in, allowing Reyes to go on a season-long loan to the capital as Julio Baptista went the other way.

Upon his return to Spain, Reyes seemed to rediscover his form as he made 30 league appearances, but once again he failed to produce consistently. His most notable moments in a Real Madrid shirt were scoring his first goal for the club with a free kick against Real Sociedad in a 2–0 win, and then coming off of the bench on the final day of the season to score twice as Real came from behind to beat RCD Mallorca, claiming yet another La Liga title.

Reyes thought he had done enough to secure a permanent switch to Real, but it emerged that their city rivals, Atletico Madrid, were the favourites to sign the winger. On 30 July 2007, Arsenal confirmed his departure to Atleti in a deal thought to be roughly €12 million. His first season with the Colchoneros was disastrous, as he was often kept out of the side by Maxi Rodríguez and Simão and failed to score a single goal in 26 league appearances.

In dire need of confidence, Reyes was loaned to Benfica, who also purchased 25% of his playing rights for a fee of €2.65 million, and ensured an option to buy the remaining 75% for an undisclosed fee. He formed a good understanding with Pablo Aimar, who lifted his form dramatically.

Reyes returned to Atletico and was joined by his Benfica manager, Quique Flores, who took over from Abel Rossino. His return proved to be much more successful as he beat the competition of Maxi Rodríguez to start on the wings with Simão. Reyes went on to form an excellent partnership with Diego Forlan and played a key role in Atletico's Europa League triumph in 2010.

The Spaniard continued to excel and took up more responsibility for the 2011–12 campaign, establishing himself as one of Atletico's most important players. However Gregorio Manzano replaced Flores as manager and Reyes instantly struggled to find consistency. After being substituted in a 3-0 loss against Athletic Bilbao, he had a fall-out with Manzano, and consequently his playing time became more and more limited.

In January 2012, Reyes signed a five year contract with his boyhood club, Sevilla. Since his return home, he has seemingly settled. Due to him now being 31, Reyes has taken a more reserved role in Unai Emery's squad, mainly being there to provide experience to younger players and feature in cup competitions, although he did play a relatively key role in Sevilla's Europa League campaign in the 2013-14 season as they lifted the trophy.

Despite all of his struggles in club football, Reyes has still had a fairly respectable international career. He was part of Spain's UEFA European Under-19 Championship winning squad in 2002, which included players such as Andres Iniesta and Fernando Torres. Reyes also went on to receive 21 caps for Spain, scoring four goals.

Jose Antonio Reyes seemed like a player that was destined for glory, but his struggles with confidence and consistency limited the impact he could make during the peak of his career. He managed to revive his career with spells at Atletico and Sevilla, but that only shows glimpses of what might have been.

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About the author
Jack Benson
Aspiring football journalist. Twitter: @_JackBenson