Josimar Aldair Quintero Quintero (; born 3 February 1997) is an Ecuadorian 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

Maltese Premier League The Maltese Premier League, known as 360Sports Malta Premier for sponsorship reasons with 360Sports (colloquialism, colloquially known as ''Il-Kampjonat Premjer''), is the highest level of professional football in Malta. Managed by the Malta Foot ...

side Gudja United.

Club career

Chelsea

Born in

Guayaquil Guayaquil (), officially Santiago de Guayaquil, is the largest city in Ecuador and also the nation's economic capital and main port. The city is the capital (political), capital of Guayas Province and the seat of Guayaquil Canton. The city is ...

, Quintero moved to Spain with his family at the age of five. He joined ''

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 ...

'', the youth academy of

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of 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 c ...

, at the age of eight. In 2013, it was reported that

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 ...

and

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

were interested in securing his services, but Quintero opted to join English club Chelsea in July 2014. However, due to paperwork and visa issues, Quintero was unable to play a competitive match for Chelsea until he turned 18. During the 2014–15 under-21 campaign, Quintero became a key figure in

Adi Viveash Adrian Lee Viveash (born 30 September 1969) is an English football coach and former professional player who was most recently assistant manager at Coventry City. He is most notable for his spells with Reading and Walsall during the 1990s. He pl ...

's starting eleven, featuring eighteen times and scoring once in all competitions. He scored his first goal for the Chelsea academy in an

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 under-19 teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions Le ...

encounter against Portuguese club

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

. Following his debut season in England, Quintero transitioned from a winger to a central midfielder. On 5 July 2017, following reports suggesting Quintero was ready to leave Chelsea, he joined Russian club

Rostov Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...

on a season-long loan. On 20 September 2017, Quintero made his Rostov debut during their cup tie against Volgar Astrakhan, replacing Žan Majer in their 2–0 away victory. On 2 January 2018, Rostov removed Quintero from their official squad list. Following his return from Rostov, Quintero joined Spanish club Betis B in January 2018 on loan for the remainder of the campaign. The deal also included an option to purchase Quintero at the conclusion of the loan spell. On 4 March 2018, he made his Betis B debut during their 3–1 away defeat against Mérida, replacing Jesús Pozo in the 79th minute. On 10 August 2018, Quintero agreed to join Spanish third-tier club Lleida Esportiu on a season-long loan.

Espanyol B

On 26 July 2019, Quintero signed for

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 ...

club Espanyol B on a one-year deal with an option of a two-year extension.

Real Monarchs

On 3 December 2020, Quintero moved to

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the second tier of the United States soccer league system#Men's leagues, United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) a ...

side

Real Monarchs Real Monarchs is a professional soccer club playing in the MLS Next Pro, a third division league of American soccer. The team is an affiliate of the Major League Soccer (MLS) club Real Salt Lake. Real Monarchs are based in the Real Salt Lake ...

Gudja United

After two years without a club, it was confirmed at the end of January 2024 that Quintero had signed with

side Gudja United.Gudja United sign Ecuadorian midfielder
maltafootball.com, 31 January 2024

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Quintero, Josimar 1997 births Living people Footballers from Guayaquil Ecuadorian men's footballers 21st-century Ecuadorian sportsmen Ecuadorian expatriate men's footballers Men's association football midfielders FC Barcelona players Chelsea F.C. players FC Rostov players Betis Deportivo Balompié footballers RCD Espanyol B footballers Lleida CF players Real Monarchs players Gudja United F.C. players Primera Federación players USL Championship players Maltese Premier League players Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in England Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Malta