323: Nolberto Solano, Newcastle United, Merlin’s F.A. Premier League 2001 Official Sticker Collection

Today Emlyn Jones brings us the story of a hugely popular, and incredibly talented, star who lit up the Premier League with his skill and personality in equal measure. He also doubles down on our superfluous references to 90s sketch shows and hosts of daytime television staples. You all know the drill by now. Over to Emlyn.

In the mid 1990s, Newcastle United became a home for a number of overseas stars, including some players from South America who had little previous exposure in the UK, but were immediate hits. Colombian star Faustino Asprilla was probably the inspiration for Paul Whitehouse's Julio Geordio, the Colombian star who steadily peppered his Spanish with increasing forays into the Geordie tongue, bemoaning the 'Cold Wind aff the Urals' and planning evenings watching the X Files. Another South American import was a tricky winger who created countless goals for his colleagues while also chipping in with a number of his own, with a penchant for sweetly struck free kicks.

Nolberto Solano began his career with Sporting Cristal of the Peruvian Primera División, and after a brief spell with Deportivo Municipal, returned to Cristal and helped the side to consecutive league titles in 1994, 1995 and 1996. He subsequently made a move to Argentina in 1997, signing for Boca Juniors at the age of 22. He became a favoured teammate of one Diego Maradona, who nicknamed him 'Maestrito' as the winger helped tee up several goals in the legendary striker's final season. Interest in Solano had grown owing to his strong performances for the Peruvian national team, having made his debut aged 18, and after a single season with Boca, Newcastle United paid £2.5m to make Solano the first Peruvian player to play for an English side.

Interest in the player was such that his first game for the reserves saw the game have to be moved back by a couple of hours in order to accommodate the unexpected size of the crowd, and it's fair to say he was an immediate hit. Solano struck up an immediate rapport with his teammates, living with Chilean Clarence Acuna and becoming close friends with his colleagues, resulting in a strong goal creating partnership with club talisman Alan Shearer. To this day, Solano insists that Shearer “owes me many hundreds of goals”. Solano also became well known in some of the local bars for his musical endeavours. Having struggled with learning the trumpet in his youth, he coincidentally heard a friend of his next door neighbour playing, and asked them to help him learn to read music. He later formed a salsa band called The Geordie Latinos, playing in Newcastle and London's salsa bars.

Despite the adoration of his teammates and the fans, manager Bobby Robson began substituting Solano in games and had a strained relationship with the player, reportedly triggered by Solano regularly being unavailable owing to his ever presence in the Peruvian national side. Eventually, Newcastle lost patience, and in 2004 Solano was sold to Aston Villa. Again, he became good friends with his teammates, playing jazz duets with percussion entrepreneur and future Homes Under The Hammer star Dion Dublin, who wielded a saxophone as they serenaded teammates. This continued a trend of incorporating his trumpet playing into the dressing room, having duetted with Gary Speed on guitar at Newcastle, and regularly playing a blast of trumpet to his managers over his mobile phone; the latter was apparently less popular than the former and may have contributed to the strained relationship with Robson.

A successful season and a half at Villa prompted a number of senior members of Newcastle's dressing room to recommend resigning Solano to new manager Glenn Roeder. A fee was agreed and fans were ecstatic to see the player return, a feeling shared by Solano who was delighted to be back on Tyneside. He had a successful two seasons, occasionally filling in at right back, before moving on to West Ham United to be nearer his family. He remained for a season before moving on to play briefly in Greece, returning to Peru, and subsequent short spells with Leicester City, Hull City and Hartlepool United before retiring in 2012.

Solano now works as the assistant manager to the Peruvian national team, and also coached their side at the Olympics. He apologised in the press after being spotted out during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic past the national curfew. Despite this, he remains a hugely popular figure in Peru, and even had his wedding televised. He's also a cult hero on Tyneside, and has confirmed that he harbours ambitions of returning to coach the side and hopefully win the trophy that deserted him during his playing days for the club. It's not recorded whether he ever shagged that Dani Behr, like, though.