Aleix García Serrano (; ; born 28 June 1997) 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 lea ...

who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

club

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It competes in the B ...

and the Spain national team.

Club career

Villarreal

Born in

Ulldecona Ulldecona () is a municipality in Catalonia, Spain. It is located in the southern part of the province of Tarragona, in the region of Montsiá. It has had town privileges since 1273. The nearest towns are: Alcanar, La Ràpita, Freginals, God ...

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in Catalonia (Spain). It is the capital and largest town of Tarragonès county, the Camp de Tarragona region and the province of Tarragona. Geographically, it is located on the Costa Daurada ar ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, García joined

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D., usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Villarreal, in the Province of Castellón, Castellón province of easte ...

's youth setup in 2005, aged eight, after starting out at CF Ulldecona. He made his senior debut with the reserves in

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

on 26 April 2014 at only 16 years of age, coming on as a late substitute in a 1–0 away win against

CF Badalona Club de Fútbol Badalona () is a Spanish football team based in Badalona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1903 it plays in , temporarily holding home games at Estadi Municipal de Badalona, with a capacity of 4,170 seats. Ba ...

. García featured for the C team in the 2014–15 season, also appearing for the B side in the same campaign. He made his first team – and

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

– debut on 23 May 2015, replacing

Antonio Rukavina Antonio Rukavina (, ; born 26 January 1984) is a Serbian retired footballer who played as a right-back. Club career Rukavina started out at his local club Bežanija, making his senior debuts in the 2002–03 season, as they won promotion to the ...

in a 4–0 loss at

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

Manchester City

On 27 August 2015, García joined

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

side

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

. He was selected by then-City manager

Manuel Pellegrini Manuel Luis Pellegrini Ripamonti (; ; born 16 September 1953) is a Chilean professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the head coach of Real Betis. As a coach, he has managed clubs in S ...

against Chelsea on 21 February 2016 in the fifth round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

. García made his first Premier League appearance on 17 September 2016, coming on as a 75th-minute substitute in a 4–0 home win against

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

. On 21 September, he started in an

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

match against

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club ( ; ) is a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. It competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Swansea have played their home matches at ...

, scoring his first goal for the club in the 2–1 away win. He next started a month later on 26 October, in another EFL Cup match, a 1–0 loss to

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

Girona (loan)

On 1 August 2017, García was loaned to newly promoted

club

Girona FC Girona Futbol Club, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. ( ) is a Spanish professional Football team, football club based in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Founded on 23 July 1930, the team plays in La Liga, to which they gained promotion in the 2022 ...

until the end of the season. He was loaned again for the 2018–19 season.

Royal Excel Mouscron (loan)

García was loaned to Belgian side

Royal Excel Mouscron Royal Excel Mouscron (, ), commonly known as Mouscron or familiarly as REM, was a Belgian professional football club based in Mouscron. The team was formed as ''Royal Mouscron-Péruwelz'' in the spring of 2010 as a result of the merging between ...

for the 2019–20 season.

Dinamo București & Eibar

On 8 October 2020, he signed a contract with

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n club

Dinamo București A dynamo is a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator. Dynamo or Dinamo may also refer to: Places * Dinamo (Moscow Metro), a station of the Moscow Metro, Moscow, Russia * Dinamo (Yekaterinburg Metro), a station of the Yekaterin ...

, until the end of the season. On 18 January 2021, after featuring sparingly, he returned to Spain and its top tier after signing for

Eibar Eibar (, ) is a city and municipality within the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Autonomous Community of Euskadi. It is the capital of the '' eskualde / comarca'' of Debabarrena. Eibar has 27,138 inhabitants ( Eustat, 2018). Its chief industry is ...

on a free transfer.

Return to Girona

On 23 July 2021, García returned to Girona on a two-year contract, with the club now in

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

. He made his return debut for the club on 14 August, the first matchday of the 2021–22 season, starting in a 2–0 victory against

Amorebieta Amorebieta-Etxano, also known as Zornotza ( Spanish, ''Amorebieta-Echano''), is a town and municipality located in Biscay in the Basque Country, an Autonomous Community in northern Spain. At the time of the 2019 census, the population of the mun ...

. On 2 December 2021, García scored his first goal for the club upon returning, closing the score in a 5–1 away win in the

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

over fourth tier Calvo Sotelo Puertollano. He made 45 total appearances for the club in his first season, helping the club reach promotion to

in the play-offs. On 26 February 2023, García opened the score in a historic 3–2 La Liga win over

, Girona's first ever win away against Athletic at San Mamés.

Bayer Leverkusen

On 13 June 2024, after a successful season for Girona, Garcia moved to

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional association football, football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. ...

for more than €18 million.

International career

García was a youth international footballer for Spain. On 10 November 2023, he was called up for the senior national team for the upcoming

UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2023 to March 2024 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams that would join the automatically qualified host team Germany in the UEFA Eur ...

matches. On 16 November, he made his debut in a 3–1 away win over

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. On 27 May 2024, he was selected in the 29-man preliminary squad for the

UEFA Euro 2024 The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2024 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2024) or simply Euro 2024, was the 17th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football champ ...

. However, on 7 June, he was excluded from the final squad prior to the tournament.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Bayer Leverkusen *

DFL-Supercup The Franz Beckenbauer Supercup or ''German Super Cup'' is a one-off association football, football match in Germany that features the winners of the Bundesliga championship and the DFB-Pokal. The competition is run by the Deutsche Fußball Liga (E ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Girona * Supercopa de Catalunya: 2019 Individual *

La Liga Team of the Season The La Liga Awards, previously known as the LFP awards, are presented annually by the Liga de Fútbol Profesional (LFP) to the best players and coach in La Liga, the first division of association football in Spain. Established in the 2008–09 La ...

: 2023–24

Notes

References

External links

Profile
at the Girona FC website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia, Aleix 1997 births Living people People from Montsià Footballers from the Province of Tarragona Spanish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Premier League players Belgian Pro League players Liga I players Villarreal CF B players Villarreal CF players Manchester City F.C. players Girona FC players Royal Excel Mouscron players FC Dinamo București players SD Eibar footballers Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spain men's international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Romania Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Catalonia men's international footballers 21st-century Spanish sportsmen