[5] In the next two years, Valerón played for Atlético Madrid where he was an undisputed starter but, following the side's relegation in 2000, he joined Deportivo de La Coruña, sharing club and position with equally talented Brazilian Djalminha.

On 27 January 2008, Valerón returned to the bench in Deportivo's 3–1 home win against Real Valladolid, coming on as a substitute for Andrés Guardado for the final 15 minutes – his first match for over a year.

[14] The 36-year-old Valerón was an undisputed starter for Depor in the 2011–12 season, scoring a career-best five goals in nearly 3,000 minutes of action in Segunda División as his team returned to the top flight after one year out, as champions.

He was appointed youth coach at Las Palmas[34] and, ahead of the 2017–18 season, was named assistant to Manolo Márquez in the first team;[35] the latter left his position three months later, however, and the former returned to the academy.

[39] A talented and creative attacking midfielder with an eye for goal, Valerón was known for his vision and technical abilities, especially his passing skills and ball control, but was also injury-prone and inconsistent.

Andrés Iniesta said he would pay to watch him play,[22][43] whilst manager Juan Antonio Anquela called him a reference for Spanish football[44] and fellow coach Vicente del Bosque admitted that he would always fit in the national team.

[46] Miguel Ángel Ramírez, Las Palmas president, said in 2015 he was trying to persuade Valerón to play another season so that he would be able to say goodbye to all the stadia in Spain where he was consistently cheered[46]– this was exemplified by his last game at the Camp Nou, with former national teammate Luis Enrique and coach of the opposing team applauding as he took the pitch.

[50] Later, together with another sibling, Pedro, they created a football club/school named Abrisajac, from biblical characters Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,[51] and Juan Carlos still played there one year before retiring for good.