The left back "Mane" (Jose Manuel Jimenez Ortiz), who spent the last four seasons at Spanish La Liga side Getafe CF and underwent a medical this morning, has agreed a two-year deal at Maccabi Tel Aviv: "It's a pleasure to join Maccabi, I'm looking forward to the challenge"
Maccabi Tel Aviv have agreed a two-year deal for the 31 year-old Spanish defender José Manuel Jiménez Ortiz, popularly known as "Mane", who made 101 league appearances in the last four seasons at Spanish La Liga side Getafe CF.
Mane, who just arrived at Maccabi's Austrian training camp at Saalfelden and is widely expected to join the squad, had this to say to the club's official website: "I am very happy to join Maccabi Tel Aviv and am looking forward to the new challenge. I've heard from (MTA defender) Carlos Garcia a lot about the club in general and about the city of Tel Aviv in particular. I'm keen to start training with the rest of the team players and get ready to go after the titles".
Maccabi Tel Aviv's sports director Jordi Cruyff said this to the club's official website: "I'm happy we succeeded in adding to the Maccabi Tel Aviv squad a player of Mane's calibre and I'm sure his long experience in La Liga will contribute to improving the team".
The five foot seven inch "Mane" was born in Tarifa, a small town near the port city of Algeciras in the province of Cádiz on the southern tip of Spain. He came up through the youth system at Real Balompédica Linense in the third tier of Spanish football and made his maiden appearance for the senior team at age 19. Stints followed at CD Díter Zafra, also in the third tier, and at Atlético Madrid B and Ciudad de Murcia, both in the second tier.
Between 2006 and 2009 Mane played alongside Carlos Garcia at UD Almería and celebrated the club's historic promotion to La Liga in 2007. In his second season at Almería (2007/8) Mane excelled, scoring a brace in matches against both Mallorca and Recreativo de Huelva and helping his modest club from the Spanish province of Andalusia finish eighth in the La Liga table. After 68 league appearances for Almería, Mane moved on to the Spanish capital Madrid's third team Getafe CF, where he made a further 101 league appearances.
