Gabriel Nicolás Mezquida Sero (born 21 January 1992) is a Uruguayan professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugb ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Greek Super League The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

club Volos.

Club career

Mezquida began his career in the youth academy of C.A. Peñarol in 2006, before being promoted to the first team in the 2008 season. On January 22, 2009, at the age of 17, he signed a pre-contract with Schalke 04 worth a reported €2 million with the intent of joining the club at the end of the year. However, he changed his mind and decided to remain with C.A. Peñarol in South America. During his time with Peñarol, he had two loan spells with Norwegian clubs Brann and

Lillestrøm Lillestrøm is a municipality in Viken county. It is located in the traditional district of Romerike. With a population of 85,757 inhabitants, it is the fourth most populated municipality in Viken. It was founded on 1 January 2020 as a merger b ...

. He joined Fénix in 2012, scoring one goal in 14 matches for the club. He was loaned out to

Rampla Juniors Rampla Juniors Fútbol Club, commonly known as Rampla Juniors, is a Uruguayan football (soccer), football club based in Montevideo. The team was actively playing the 2021 season by January 2021. In their home stadium, Rampla won the Uruguayan cha ...

in 2013 and scored seven goals in 24 matches for the club. In September 2013, after leaving Fenix, Mezquida went on trial with

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foo ...

of the

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but was ultimately not signed, potentially because of work permit eligibility issues, since he had not featured for the senior national side of Uruguay. On February 5, 2014

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March ...

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announced that they had signed Mezquida along with fellow Uruguayan Sebastián Fernández on a transfer from Boston River of the Uruguayan Segunda División where he had been playing since leaving Fenix. Mezquida went on to play five seasons for Vancouver, making 103 regular and postseason appearances, scoring 14 goals and adding four assists. On December 9, 2018, Mezquida was traded along with $100,000 in TAM to the Colorado Rapids in exchange for Zac MacMath. In 2019, Mezquida made 32 MLS appearances while adding four goals and six assists - all career highs. In 2020, Mezquida made 17 appearances, 16 of them as a substitute, including in Colorado's first-round playoff loss at

Minnesota United FC Minnesota United FC is an American professional soccer club based in Saint Paul, Minnesota that plays in the Western Conference of Major League Soccer. The club began play in 2017 as the league's 22nd club, and replaced the North American Soc ...

. Mezquida made his 150th career MLS regular season appearance on November 8 at

Houston Dynamo Houston Dynamo FC (formerly officially, but still commonly, called the Houston Dynamo) is an American professional soccer club based in Houston. The Dynamo compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Establish ...

. On 28 June 2022, Mezquida was transferred to

club Volos.

International career

Mezquida excelled whilst playing for Uruguay at U-15 level, scoring ten goals in 12 appearances, and was the top goal scorer at the 2007

South American Under-15 Football Championship The South American U-15 Championship, also known as the Campeonato Sudamericano Sub15, is a South American association football competition held every two years contested by male players under the age of 15 and is organized by CONMEBOL, the gove ...

, helping them finish as runners-up. He also played for the U-17 team at the international level.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

Whitecaps FC profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mezquida, Nicolas Living people 1992 births Uruguayan footballers Footballers from Paysandú Association football midfielders Peñarol players SK Brann players Lillestrøm SK players Centro Atlético Fénix players Rampla Juniors players Boston River players Vancouver Whitecaps FC players Whitecaps FC 2 players Colorado Rapids players Volos N.F.C. players Uruguayan Primera División players Eliteserien players Uruguayan Segunda División players Major League Soccer players USL Championship players MLS Next Pro players Uruguayan expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Norway Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Norway Expatriate soccer players in Canada Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Canada Expatriate soccer players in the United States Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate footballers in Greece Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Greece Uruguay youth international footballers