Arnau Solà Mateu (born 4 April 2003) 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 le ...

who plays as a left-back for

Villarreal CF B Villarreal Club de Fútbol "B" is a Spanish football team based in Villarreal, in the autonomous community of Valencia. Founded in 1999, it is the reserve team of Villarreal CF and plays in Segunda División, holding home games at ''Ciudad Deporti ...

, on loan from UD Almería.

Club career

Early career

Born in Amposta,

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; Phoenician: ''Tarqon''; la, Tarraco) is a port city located in northeast Spain on the Costa Daurada by the Mediterranean Sea. Founded before the fifth century BC, it is the capital of the Province of Tarragona, and part of Tar ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

, Solà began his career with hometown side

CF Amposta Club de Futbol Amposta is a Spanish football team based in Amposta, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1915, it plays in Primera Catalana, holding home games at '' Estadi Municipal de Amposta'', which has a capacity of 3,000 sp ...

at the age of four. In 2010, aged seven, he moved to

UE Rapitenca Unió Esportiva Rapitenca is a Spanish football team based in Sant Carles de la Ràpita, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1930 it currently plays in Tercera División – Group 5, holding home matches at ''Estadi Municipal La ...

, and then joined

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

La Masia La Masia de Can Planes, usually shortened to La Masia (; en, "The Farmhouse"), is a term used for FC Barcelona's youth academy. The academy includes more than 300 young players. It has been an instrumental factor in Barcelona's European success ...

in 2015, at the age of 12.

Barcelona

Solà was promoted to Barcelona's B team in July 2021, and made his senior debut on 28 August, coming on as a second-half substitute for Nils Mortimer in a 1–1 Primera División RFEF home draw against Algeciras CF. He spent the campaign playing both for the B's and the '' Juvenil'' side before being sidelined in February 2022, due to a spinal disc herniation: however, he still contributed to the victory of a national under-19 league title. On 6 June 2022, Solà announced his departure from Barcelona after not renewing his contract, which would have expired at the end of the month.

Almería

On 7 July 2022, Solà joined

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's ...

side UD Almería on a permanent deal, signing a five-year contract.

Loan to Murcia

On 12 August, he joined

Primera Federación The Primera Federación, formerly known as Primera División RFEF, is the third tier of the Spanish football league system beginning with the 2021–22 season. It is administered by the Royal Spanish Football Federation. It is below the top tw ...

side Real Murcia on loan for the entire season. He immediately became a starter for the side, being often deployed on the right flank.

Loan to Cartagena

On 20 July 2023, Solà was loaned out to

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

side FC Cartagena for one season. He made his professional debut on 18 August, starting in a 3–2 away loss to

FC Andorra Futbol Club Andorra is a professional football club based in Andorra la Vella, Andorra, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. The club was founded in 1942 and currently plays its home fixtu ...

, and scored his first goal on 10 September, but in a 3–1 home loss to

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. Zaragoza holds its home games at La ...

Loan to Villarreal

On 11 July 2024, Solà moved to

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Vila-real Club de Futbol, S.A.D.), usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or simply Villarreal, is a professional football club based in Villarreal, in the Castellón province of eastern Spain, th ...

on a one-year loan deal, being assigned to

the B-team The B-Team was a professional wrestling tag team in WWE, composed of Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel. The team are former one-time WWE Raw Tag Team Champions. They also formerly performed as The Social Outcasts and The Miztourage from 2016 to 2018 be ...

in the third division.

International career

Solà has represented Spain at youth international level, having played for the under-19 national team.

Honours

;Barcelona * División de Honor Juvenil: 2021-22 * División de Honor Juvenil runners-up: 2020-21

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sola, Arnau 2003 births Living people People from Montsià Spanish men's footballers Footballers from the Province of Tarragona Men's association football defenders Segunda División players Primera Federación players FC Barcelona Atlètic players UD Almería players Real Murcia CF players FC Cartagena footballers Villarreal CF B players Spain men's youth international footballers