Nerijus Valskis (born 4 August 1987) is a Lithuanian former professional footballer who played as a forward.
Club career Earlier career Valskis began his senior club career in 2005 at FK Žalgiris of Lithuanian A Lyga, where he made 11 appearances before moving to Kauno Jėgeriai. During 2007–2008 season, he appeared for FK Šilutė and scored 4 goals in 37 league matches. He later moved to another A Lyga outfit FBK Kaunas, where he scored 17 goals in two different seasons (2008 and 2010).Nerijus Valskis soccer player profile and stats Football Critic. Retrieved 17 March 2021
Belarus and Latvia In 2009, he arrived in Belarus and signed with Belarusian Premier League side FC Smorgon. In 2011, he played for FC Smorgon in the Latvian Higher League where he scored 8 goals in 27 league matches. He then came back to Belarus with Minsk and he was in the 2011–12 Belarusian Cup Runners-up squad.
Lithuania After several successful stints in foreign clubs, he returned to Lithuania and signed with giants FK Sūduva. During the 2013 A Lyga season, while playing for Sūduva, Valskis was awarded the Best Player and was also the league's leading scorer with 27 goals.
Poland In 2014, Valskis signed for CS Universitatea Craiova of Romanian Liga I and appeared in 15 league games before moving to Polish club Wigry Suwałki.
Back to Lithuania He returned to Lithuania with FK Riteriai during the 2015–2016 season.Nerijus Valskis career statistics and clubs aiscore.com. Retrieved 17 March 2021 With the club, He scored 24 goals in 43 league matches. Valskis was in FK Riteriai's squad in that season, which finished runners-up in their domestic tournaments; A Lyga, Lithuanian Supercup and Lithuanian Football Cup.
More foreign stints He went to Israel and played for Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv in the 2017–2018 season. Valskis was part of Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv squad which won the Israeli State Cup in 2017.
Valskis in 2018, moved to Thailand and appeared with Ratchaburi Mitr Phol in 15 Thai League 1 matches, scoring 9 goals.
Israel After his previous appearances with Israeli side Bnei Yehuda, Valskis again came back to Israeli Premier League with Hapoel Tel Aviv in 2019. He signed for Hapoel Tel Aviv on a short-term contract until the end of the 2018–19 Israeli Premier League season. He scored only 1 goal in 10 league matches before moving to India.
India Following his second stint in Israel, Valskis joined Indian Super League side Chennaiyin in July 2019. In his debut season in India, Valskis was the league's top goal scorer with 15 goals, winning the ISL golden boot. His goals helped to lead the club to the final of the Super League on 14 March 2020; he scored in the showpiece match but Chennaiyin lost 3–1 to ATK.
On 21 August 2020, after parting ways with Chennaiyin, Valskis signed a two-year contract with fellow Super League club Jamshedpur FC, reuniting with former boss Owen Coyle. He scored 8 goals for Jamshedpur in the 2020–21 Indian Super League season.
He returned to Chennaiyin on 1 January 2022 in the mid season of ISL 2021–22.
Retirement from professional football On 26 February 2024, Valskis announced his retirement from professional football.
International career While playing for FK Sūduva, Valskis was called up in the national squad of Lithuania in 2013. He made his debut on 11 October, against Latvia in a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification match.
He scored his only goal for his country against Estonia in the 2016 Baltic Cup. In that competition, Lithuania finished as the Runners-up.
From 2013, he has appeared in 24 international matches and represented Lithuania in competitions like Baltic Cup and UEFA Nations League alongside Euro Cup, 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
Career statistics Club + Appearances and goals by club, season and competitionClubSeasonLeagueNational CupLeague CupOtherTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsFK Žalgiris2005A Lyga100000000100FK Šilutė2007A Lyga2200000002202008A Lyga154000000154Total484000000484FBK Kaunas2008A Lyga1011042401932009A Lyga0010000010Total101204240203Smorgon2009Belarusian Premier League120000000120FBK Kaunas2010I Lyga22135300002716Liepājas Metalurgs2011Virslīga278310040349Minsk2012Belarusian Premier League100200000120FK Sūduva2012A Lyga82100000922013A Lyga30271100223330Total38292100204232Universitatea Craiova2013–14Liga II1420000001422014–15Liga I1000000010Total152000000152Wigry Suwałki2014–15I liga5000000050FK Trakai2015A Lyga1475200001992016A Lyga29171000213218Total43246200215125Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv2016–17Israeli Premier League1445200001962017–18Israeli Premier League357103151449Total49116231516315Ratchaburi Mitr Phol2018Thai League 1159000000159Hapoel Tel Aviv2018–19Israeli Premier League101100000111Chennaiyin2019–20Indian Super League20150000002015Jamshedpur2020–21Indian Super League1880000001882021–22Indian Super League6200000062Total24100000002410Chennaiyin2021–22Indian Super League112000000112FK Kauno Žalgiris2022A Lyga1342000001542023A Lyga124200020164Total258400020318Career total38313731973174438153
International goals As of match played 29 May 2016. Lithuania score listed first, score column indicates score after each Valskis goal.
+ International goals by date, venue, cap, opponent, score, result and competitionNo.DateVenueCapOpponentScoreResultCompetition129 May 2016Klaipėdos M. Centrinis Stadionas, Klaipėda, Lithuania61–02–02016 Baltic Cup
Honours FBK Kaunas Latvian Football Cup: 2007–08 Baltic League: 2008
Liepājas Metalurgs Latvian Football Cup runner-up: 2010–11
Minsk Belarusian Cup runner-up: 2011–12
Riteriai A Lyga runner-up: 2015, 2016 Lithuanian Cup runner-up: 2016 Lithuanian Supercup runner-up: 2016
Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv Israel State Cup: 2016–17 Israel Super Cup runner-up: 2017
Chennaiyin Indian Super League runner-up: 2019–20
Lithuania Baltic Cup runner-up: 2016
Individual A Lyga top scorer: 2013 (27 goals) A Lyga Best Player: 2013 Indian Super League Golden Boot: 2019–20
References
External links Nerijus Valskis player profile at footballcritic.com