Lago Junior Wakalible (born 31 December 1990), known as Junior, is an Ivorian 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 as a winger for

Racing de Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league syst ...

Club career

Numancia

Born in

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, ...

, Junior began his football career at the ''Centre de Formation Joël Tiéhi'', a school founded by former player Joël Tiéhi. He made his senior debut with Issia Wazy in 2007, scoring at an excellent rate. On 31 January 2009, Junior moved to Spain and signed a five-and-a-half-year contract with

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 Primera División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at ''Nuevo Estadio Lo ...

. He made his

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' ...

debut on 18 April, playing ten minutes in a 3–0 away loss against

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in ...

. He only appeared in four more matches until the end of the season, all as a substitute, and the

Soria Soria () is a municipality and a Spanish city, located on the Douro river in the east of the autonomous community of Castile and León and capital of the province of Soria. Its population is 38,881 ( INE, 2017), 43.7% of the provincial popula ...

team were relegated as 19th. Junior joined

SD Eibar Sociedad Deportiva Eibar (in eu, Eibar Kirol Elkartea) is a professional Spanish football club based in Eibar, Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous Basque Country. Founded on 30 November 1940, the team currently plays in the Segunda División, the s ...

on 27 August 2010, 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 tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

-long loan. Two days later, he scored twice on his official debut for the

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, 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 Fo ...

club, a 2–1 home win over CF Palencia.

Gimnàstic and Mirandés

On 13 July 2013, after a further two Segunda División campaigns with Numancia, Junior remained in the country and signed for

Gimnàstic de Tarragona Club Gimnàstic de Tarragona, commonly known as Gimnàstic Tarragona or sometimes just Nàstic, is a Spanish sports club based in Tarragona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Its football team plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2. ...

from division three. On 22 July 2015, after achieving promotion, he moved to CD Mirandés of the second tier.

Mallorca

On 28 January 2016, Junior agreed to a €300,000 deal at second-division

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, S.A.D. (, ca, Reial Club Deportiu Mallorca , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or just Mallorca is a Spanish professional football club based in Palma on the island of Majorca in ...

. After suffering relegation at the end of the 2016–17 campaign he went on to help the side to earn two consecutive promotions, netting a career-best 11 goals in 2018–19. Junior subsequently lost his importance in the squad. In December 2021, he was loaned to

SD Huesca Sociedad Deportiva Huesca, S.A.D., is a Spanish football club in Huesca, in the autonomous community of Aragon. Founded on 29 March 1960, SD Huesca plays in the Segunda División, having played in the Spanish top division for the first time in ...

. On 11 January 2023, Junior terminated his contract by mutual consent.

Later career

Immediately after leaving Mallorca, Junior joined second-tier

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a football club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, that competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. They won the UEFA Intert ...

on a free transfer, signing until June 2024 with an option for another year. On 15 June 2023, after the club's

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open league ...

, he moved to fellow second division side

on a two-year contract.

International career

Junior won his first

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

for the Ivory Coast national team on 13 October 2020 at the age of nearly 30, replacing

Gervinho Gervais Yao Kouassi (born 27 May 1987), known as Gervinho, is an Ivorian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Greek Super League club Aris and the Ivory Coast national team. Gervinho began his career at ASEC Abidjan and Toumo ...

late into the 1–0 friendly defeat to Japan in

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Nethe ...

, Netherlands.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Junior, Lago 1990 births Living people Ivorian footballers Footballers from Abidjan Men's association football wingers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players CD Numancia players SD Eibar footballers Gimnàstic de Tarragona footballers CD Mirandés footballers RCD Mallorca players SD Huesca footballers Málaga CF players Racing de Santander players Ivory Coast men's international footballers Ivorian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in Spain