Álex Collado Gutiérrez (born 22 April 1999) is a Spanish 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, rugby ...

who plays for

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

club

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vi ...

. Mainly an

attacking 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 ...

, he can also play as a winger.

Club career

Barcelona

Born in

Sabadell Sabadell () is a city in Catalonia, Spain. It is in the south of the ''comarca'' of Vallès Occidental and its joint capital (co-capital), on the River Ripoll, north of Barcelona. Sabadell is located above sea level. Sabadell pioneered the In ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the no ...

, Collado joined

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional Football team, football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish footb ...

's youth setup in 2009, after stints at

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

and CE Mercantil. He was a member of the Barcelona youth team that won the

2017–18 UEFA Youth League The 2017–18 UEFA Youth League was the fifth season of the UEFA Youth League, a European youth club football competition organised by UEFA. Barcelona won their second Youth League title following a win over Chelsea in the final. Red Bull Salz ...

, defeating

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament const ...

3–0 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

. After progressing through the youth setup, Collado made his debut for

Barcelona B Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

in the Segunda División on 17 March 2018, starting in a 1–1 away draw against

Lorca FC Lorca Fútbol Club was a Spanish football team based in Lorca, in the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia. Founded in 2003, it last played in Preferente Autonómica de Murcia – Group 1, holding home games at Estadio Francisco Artés ...

. He scored his first goal for Barça B on 15 December 2018, the last-minute winner in a 2–1 home win against

Lleida Esportiu Club Lleida Esportiu is a Spanish football team based in Lleida, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in July 2011 it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 3, holding home games at Camp d'Esports, with a capacity of 13,500 seat ...

. Collado made his first team debut for Barcelona, as a starter, on 4 May 2019 in a 2–0 away loss to

Celta Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta de Vigo or simply Celta, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues) ...

. Ahead of the 2020–21 season, Collado was named the new

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of ''Barça B'' following the long term injury of former captain

Ferrán Sarsanedas Ferrán Sarsanedas Soler (born 11 February 1997) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Elche CF Ilicitano. Club career Born in Amer, Girona, Catalonia, Sarsanedas joined FC Barcelona's youth setup in 2007 ...

. On 31 March 2021, Collado renewed his contract with ''Barça'' for two further years, until 2023. However in August 2021 during Barcelona's pre-season, Collado left Barça's training camp in Stuttgart to resolve his future. After failed

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...

moves to

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

and

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games a ...

, Collado was left unregistered and wasn't included in either the senior squad or Barça B, which meant that he couldn't play until January 2022. It was then decided by the club that he would have to leave on loan in January due to La Liga regulations not allowing his registration for the rest of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

Loan to Granada

On 9 December 2021, Barça had announced that an agreement in principle was reached with

Granada CF Granada Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. (), known simply as Granada, is a Spanish football club based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that plays in the Segunda División, after being relegated from La Liga in the 2021 ...

for the loan of Collado until the end of the season. The following 7 January, Granada officially announced the signing of Collado after bureaucratic issues were settled. He made his debut the next day in a 1–1 draw in the league against his parent club Barcelona.

Loan to Elche

On 15 August 2022, Collado agreed to a one-year loan deal with

Elche CF Elche Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Elx Club de Futbol, S.A.D.) is a professional football based in Elche, Province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 1923, the club competes in La Liga, holding home matches at '' Estad ...

also in the top tier.

Betis

On 27 July 2023, Collado signed a six-year contract with

in the top tier.

Loan to Al-Okhdood

On 31 July 2023, Real Betis announced the loan of Collado to

Saudi Pro League The Saudi Pro League (SPL for short) ( ar, دوري المحترفين السعودي, link=no, ''Dawriyy al-Muḥtarifayni as-Suʿūdī''), known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL for short) for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of associat ...

side Al-Okhdood for the following season.

Career statistics

Honours

Barcelona *

: 2018–19 *

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the youth teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions Leagu ...

: 2017–18

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Collado, Alex 1999 births Living people Footballers from Sabadell Spanish men's footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Saudi Pro League players FC Barcelona Atlètic players FC Barcelona players Granada CF footballers Elche CF players Real Betis players Al-Okhdood Club players Spain men's youth international footballers Catalonia men's international footballers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Expatriate men's footballers in Saudi Arabia