Javier Espinosa González (born 19 September 1992) 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

central 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 ...

Club career

Barcelona B

Born in

Talavera de la Reina Talavera de la Reina () is a city and municipalities of Spain, municipality of Spain, part of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. Its population of 83,303 makes it the second most populated municipalit ...

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Or ...

, Castile-La Mancha, Espinosa moved to

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

's youth system,

La Masia La Masia de Can Planes, usually shortened to La Masia (; ), is FC Barcelona's youth academy. It includes more than 300 young players and has been an instrumental factor in Barcelona's European success, producing several world class players and ...

, at the age of 13. On 1 May 2010, whilst still a junior, he made his senior debut with

the B team The B Team is a global nonprofit initiative co-founded by Sir Richard Branson and Jochen Zeitz. It advocates for business practices that are more centered on humanity and the climate. History In 2013, a group of leaders came together followin ...

, playing the second half in a 2–1 home win against

Valencia CF Mestalla Valencia Club de Fútbol Mestalla, shortened to Valencia Mestalla, is the reserve team of Valencia CF, a Spanish football club based in Valencia, in the namesake community. Founded in 1944, and currently plays in , holding home games at '' Ciud ...

in the

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 February of the following year, after replacing fellow youth graduate

Albert Dalmau Albert Dalmau Martínez (born 16 March 1992) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a right-back. Club career Born in Sils, Girona, Catalonia, Dalmau started playing football for his hometown club, moving to FC Barcelona's youth syst ...

, he contributed one goal to a 6–4

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 ...

away victory over

CD Numancia Club Deportivo Numancia de Soria, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club in Soria, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 April 1945, it plays in , holding home games at '' Nuevo Estadio Los Pajaritos''. Besides football it ...

. Espinosa became a regular fixture under new manager

Eusebio Sacristán Eusebio Sacristán Mena (; born 13 April 1964), known simply as Eusebio in his playing days, is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. He was also a manager. He started and ended his 20-year senior career ...

. He scored five times in 27 games in the 2012–13 season, again spent in the second tier, and continued to appear regularly the following campaign, netting a career-best seven goals as ''Barça B'' finished third.

Villarreal

On 11 July 2014, Espinosa signed a three-year contract with

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 ...

. He made his debut in

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 ...

on 24 August, replacing Cani in the 63rd minute of a 2–0 away defeat of

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 6 September 1909, the club will compete in La Liga for the 2025– ...

. Espinosa scored his first goal in the main division on 21 September, his team's first in a 4–2 home win over

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in the Villa de Vallecas district of Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish foot ...

. On 9 January 2015, he was loaned to fellow top-flight side

UD Almería Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' until 2001 ...

until June. On 28 August 2015, Espinosa joined

Elche CF Elche Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional football club based in Elche, Province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community, Spain. Founded in 1923, the club will compete in La Liga for the 2025–26 season, holding home matches at ...

of the second division, in a

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 ...

-long loan deal.

Levante

On 19 July 2016, after cutting ties with Villarreal, Espinosa signed a two-year deal with Levante, recently relegated to division two. After helping achieve promotion at the first attempt, he extended his link until 2019 and was immediately loaned to

Granada CF Granada Club de Fútbol (), known simply as Granada or ''"Graná"'', is a professional List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that currently plays in Segunda ...

for one year. Espinosa terminated his contract with the

Valencian Valencian can refer to: * Something related to the Valencian Community ( Valencian Country) in Spain * Something related to the city of Valencia * Something related to the province of Valencia in Spain * Something related to the old Kingdom of ...

club on 30 August 2018.

Twente

On 31 August 2018, Espinosa moved abroad for the first time in his career, signing for

FC Twente Football Club Twente (), sometimes known internationally as FC Twente Enschede, is a Dutch professional Association football, football club from the city of Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub E ...

. He made his debut in the Dutch

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

on 8 September, starting in a 1–2 home loss against

TOP Oss TOP Oss (), is a professional association football club based in the town of Oss, North Brabant, Netherlands, that competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of the Dutch football league system. Founded in 1928 as T.O.P., a Dutch abbrevia ...

Later career

On 1 February 2021, after nearly a year of inactivity, Espinosa signed a short-term deal with

CF Fuenlabrada Club de Fútbol Fuenlabrada, S.A.D. is a football club based in Fuenlabrada, Community of Madrid, Spain, that currently competes in Primera División RFEF – Group 1, the third tier of the Spanish league system. It was founded in 1975. It holds ...

back in his country's second tier. In the ensuing summer, he agreed to a two-year contract at

AEK Larnaca FC AEK Larnaca FC (, "Athletic Union Kition of Larnaca") is a Cypriot professional football club based in Larnaca. The club was formed in 1994 after a merger of two historical Larnaca clubs, EPA Larnaca and Pezoporikos. The club also has a men' ...

of the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

Career statistics

Honours

Levante *

: 2016–17 Twente *

: 2018–19 Spain U17 *

FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the annual world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fé ...

third place:

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Espinosa, Javier 1992 births Living people Sportspeople from Talavera de la Reina 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from the Province of Toledo Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players FC Barcelona Atlètic players Villarreal CF players UD Almería players Elche CF players Levante UD footballers Granada CF footballers CF Fuenlabrada footballers Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players FC Twente players Cypriot First Division players AEK Larnaca FC players Kings League players Spain men's youth international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Spanish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus