Cristhian Andrey Mosquera Ibargüen (born 27 June 2004) 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 mainly as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

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 ...

club

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

Early life

Born in

Alicante Alicante (, , ; ; ; officially: ''/'' ) is a city and municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean port. The population ...

Valencian Community The Valencian Community is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid wit ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

n parents, Mosquera first played

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

in his hometown, before joining

futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

team San Blas Cañavate, as his cousin was playing there and they were missing a player for a youth tournament. Having later moved to play in -based team SCD Carolinas, he eventually joined the city main football club,

Hércules CF Hércules de Alicante Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team in Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded on 25 October 1922, it currently plays in Primera Federación and plays its home games ...

Club career

Valencia

Mosquera joined

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol, S. A. D. (; ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF or simply Valencia, is a Spanish professional Association football, football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top tier of the Spani ...

's youth setup in 2016, aged 12. On 22 August 2020, while still in the '' Juvenil A'' squad, he renewed his contract with the club until 2023. He made his senior debut with the reserves on 4 September 2021, starting in a 3–1 Tercera División RFEF home win over

CD Castellón B Club Deportivo Castellón "B" is a Spanish football team, founded in 1958 and based in Castellón de la Plana, in the Valencian Community, it's the reserve team of CD Castellón. Founded in 1958, they play in . Club background *''Deportivo Casta ...

. Having already featured on the bench for a few ''Liga'' fixtures that

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 axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

, he made his first team debut on 16 January 2022, starting in a 1–0 away win over

CD Atlético Baleares Club Deportivo Atlético Baleares, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Palma de Mallorca, Palma, the capital of the Mallorca, island of Mallorca, in the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. Foun ...

, for the season's

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 ...

. Playing every minutes of the game in the center of a 3-men defense, his coach

José Bordalás José "Pepe" Bordalás Jiménez (born 5 March 1964) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a striker, currently manager of La Liga club Getafe. His playing career ended due to injury without a first-team appearance for Hércules, and he ...

praised him as the best on the field that night. At the age of 17 years, six months and 23 days, he became the eight-youngest player in the club's history, and the youngest centre-back. Set to further renew his contract with the ''Che'' until 2025, Mosquera made his

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 19 January 2022 by starting in a 1–1 draw against

Sevilla Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...

, again impressing in the axis of the defense for what was a difficult game against the likes of

Rafa Mir Rafael Mir Vicente, known as Rafa Mir, (born 18 June 1997) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a striker for La Liga club Valencia, on loan from Sevilla. Formed at Valencia where he was primarily a reserve, he also represented ...

. This made him the fourth-youngest footballer to ever play in La Liga with ''Los murciélagos'', surpassing players such as

Ferran Torres Ferran Torres García (born 29 February 2000) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a forward or winger for La Liga club Barcelona and the Spain national team. Torres began his career at Valencia, where he made his senior debut ...

Lee Kang-in Lee Kang-in (; born 19 February 2001) is a South Korean professional Association football, footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger (association football), winger for club Paris Saint-Germain F.C., Paris Saint-Germain and the ...

Yunus Musah Yunus Dimoara Musah (born November 29, 2002) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for club AC Milan and the United States national team. An alumnus of Arsenal's Hale End academy, Musah began his senior career ...

. In August 2023, Mosquera was definitely promoted to the main squad of the ''Che''. On 9 February 2025, he netted his first career goal in a 2–0 win over

Leganés Leganés () is a city in the Community of Madrid, Spain. Considered part of the Madrid metropolitan area, it is located about 11 km southwest of the centre of Madrid. , it has a population of 188,425, making it the region's fifth most popu ...

in La Liga.

Arsenal

On 24 July 2025, Mosquera joined

club

on a long-term contract for an initial fee believed to be £13 million.

International career

Mosquera represented

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

at under-15, under-16 and under-18 levels, winning a friendly tournament with the latter in October 2021, against

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

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 ...

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. He also holds a Colombian passport, which makes him eligible to play for ''La Tricolor'' as well as Spain.

Style of play

Mainly playing as a

during his time at Valencia's academy, Mosquera can also play as a full-back on both sides. When he made the switch from

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

as a youngster, he actually played as a winger, where he first showed his athletic abilities. Already a strong physical presence despite his young age, he is described as a quick defender, with good anticipation and ability to play the ball, helping his team move forward.

Miguel Ángel Angulo Miguel Ángel Angulo Valderrey (; born 23 June 1977) is a Spanish former professional footballer, currently manager of Valencia CF Mestalla. Predominantly an attacking midfielder, he was also able to play as a right winger and even as a right- ...

– his coach at Mestalla – described the youngster's profile as characterized by his "physical condition and good technical qualities, powerful in the air, and mature for his age".

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Spain U23 *

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

gold medal:

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 ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mosquera, Cristhian 2004 births Living people Footballers from Alicante Spanish men's footballers Spanish people of Colombian descent Sportspeople of Colombian descent Naturalized citizens of Colombia Colombian men's footballers Spain men's youth international footballers Men's association football defenders La Liga players Segunda Federación players Tercera Federación players Valencia CF players Valencia CF Mestalla footballers Arsenal F.C. players Footballers at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Spain Olympic medalists in football Olympic gold medalists for Spain Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics 21st-century Spanish sportsmen 21st-century Colombian sportsmen