Diego González Polanco (born 28 January 1995) 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 ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

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 ...

club

Elche Elche ( ca-valencia, Elx) is a city and municipality of Spain, belonging to the province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. According to 2014 data, Elche has a population of 228,647 inhabitants,Chiclana de la Frontera Chiclana de la Frontera () is a town and municipality in southwestern Spain, in the province of Cádiz, Andalucía, near the Gulf of Cádiz. It belongs to the association of municipalities of the Bay of Cádiz (Bahía de Cádiz), the provincial c ...

, Province of Cádiz,

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

, González joined Cádiz CF's youth setup in 2012, from EF Sancti Petri. After starting out as a senior with the former's reserves in

Tercera División Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segunda División'', and the semi-professional ''Segunda Di ...

, he made his first-team debut on 11 November 2012, coming on as a late substitute in a 1–0

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 Foot ...

away loss against

Albacete Balompié Albacete Balompié is a Spanish football team based in Albacete, in the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. Founded on 2 August 1940, it currently plays in Segunda División, the second tier of Spanish football, holding home matches ...

. González had unsuccessful trials at

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and

A.S. Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...

in 2013, being also strongly linked to

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

. On 20 December 2014 he signed a new four-year deal at the

Estadio Ramón de Carranza Nuevo Mirandilla is a football stadium in Cádiz, Spain. The stadium is the home ground of Cádiz CF. The stadium was originally inaugurated as ''Estadio Ramón de Carranza'' on 3 September 1955. It has since then been completely rebuilt twice ...

, running until 2018. On 20 January 2015, González joined another

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

Club Recreativo Granada Club Recreativo Granada is a Spanish football team based in Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1947, it is the reserve team of Granada CF and currently plays in Segunda Federación – Group 4, holding home games at '' ...

on loan until June. On 22 July, he signed a two-year contract with

Sevilla Atlético Sevilla Atlético is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1950, it is the reserve team of Sevilla FC. It plays in Segunda Federación, and holds home games ...

for a fee of

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

200,000. González first appeared with Sevilla's main squad on 2 December 2015, starting in a 3–0 away win over

UD Logroñés Unión Deportiva Logroñés, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Logroño, in the autonomous community of La Rioja. Founded in 2009, it currently plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, holding home matches at ''Estadio Las Gaunas ...

in the

round of 32 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

of the

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...

. The following 8 May, as manager

Unai Emery Unai Emery Etxegoien (born 3 November 1971) is a Spanish football manager and former player who is the head coach of Premier League club Aston Villa. After a career spent playing mostly in Spain's Segunda División, Emery transitioned into coa ...

made changes ahead of two cup finals, 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's ...

debut as a substitute and scored a back-heeled equaliser with his first touch in a 4–1 defeat to neighbours

Granada CF Granada Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. (), known simply as Granada, is a Spanish football club based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that plays in the Segunda División, after being relegated from La Liga in the 2021� ...

, at the

Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium The Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium ( es, Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán; ) is a football stadium in Seville, Spain. It is the home stadium of Sevilla Fútbol Club, and is named after the club's former president, Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán (1 ...

. On 3 August 2017, after featuring regularly with the B side in

, González signed a four-year deal with top-flight club

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

. On 3 October 2020, he was one of the eight first-team players released due to a

layoff A layoff or downsizing is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment of an employee or, more commonly, a group of employees (collective layoff) for business reasons, such as personnel management or downsizing (reducing the ...

. On 9 October 2020,

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

González agreed to a two-year contract with

Elche CF Elche Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Elx Club de Futbol, S.A.D.) is a professional football based in Elche, Province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 1923, the club competes in La Liga, holding home matches at ''Estadi ...

, newly promoted to the top tier.

Career statistics

Honours

Spain U21 *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

runner-up: 2017

References

External links

*
Stats and bio at Cadistas1910
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalez, Diego 1995 births Living people People from Chiclana de la Frontera Spanish men's footballers Footballers from the Province of Cádiz Men's association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Cádiz CF Mirandilla players Cádiz CF players Club Recreativo Granada players Sevilla Atlético players Sevilla FC players Málaga CF players Elche CF players Spain men's under-21 international footballers