Dídac Vilà Rosselló (; born 9 June 1989) 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 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 ...

Club career

Espanyol

Born in

Mataró Mataró () is the capital and largest town of the ''comarca'' of the Maresme, in the province of Barcelona, Catalonia Autonomous Community, Spain. It is located on the Costa del Maresme, to the south of Costa Brava, between Cabrera de Mar and Sa ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern 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 ci ...

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 ...

, Vilà joined local

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

's youth system at the age of 10, making his senior debut in 2008–09 and helping the reserves promote from the

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 ...

, as champions. He was promoted to the first team by manager

Mauricio Pochettino Mauricio Roberto Pochettino Trossero (; born 2 March 1972) is an Argentine professional football manager and former player. He was most recently the head coach of Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain. Pochettino played as a central defender and be ...

, making 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 on 30 January 2010 in a 1–0 home win against

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional Association football, football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country (autonomous com ...

(which, in his own words, came as a "surprise") and ending his first professional season with 11 league games, starting and playing all the minutes in every match as the ''Pericos'' finished in mid-table. Previously, he appeared with the main squad in the 2008 final of the

Copa Catalunya The Copa Catalunya (''Catalonia Cup'') is a knockout competition organised by the Catalan Football Federation for football clubs in the Catalonia autonomous community of Spain. History Between 1903 and 1940, it was known as the '' Championship ...

, lost 2–1 to

UE Sant Andreu Unió Esportiva Sant Andreu () is a Spanish football team based in the city of Barcelona in the district of Sant Andreu, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1909, it plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 5, holding home mat ...

, and signed a five-year contract with the club shortly after. After missing the first months of the 2010–11 campaign due to physical problems, Vilà once again gained first-choice status, taking over longtime incumbent – and fellow youth graduate – David García.

AC Milan

On 28 January 2011, Vilà was bought by

AC Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 and 1982–83 seasons ...

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

for a reported €3 million. After only one official appearance for the Italians (the 0–0 draw away to

Udinese Calcio Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Football in Italy, Italian association football, football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a ...

), and subsequently being highly critical of coach

Massimiliano Allegri Massimiliano Allegri (; born 11 August 1967), also known as Max Allegri, is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Juventus. During his playing career, Allegri played in the Serie A as a midfielder ...

, he returned to Espanyol in early June 2011 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 pol ...

-long loan. He only missed one match during the league campaign, scoring twice but in as many away losses. Vilà was set to join

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol (, ca-valencia, València Club de Futbol ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF (or simply Valencia) is a professional football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top flight of the Spa ...

on loan at the beginning of 2012–13 with the option of making the move permanent at the end of the season, but the deal fell apart as he did not pass the required medical exams. Subsequently, the player underwent surgery, failing to play in a competitive match for the ''Rossoneri''. For the 2013–14 campaign, Vilà moved to

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

on loan, again being bothered by physical problems – including a leg fracture. After the

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 ...

ns' relegation he subsequently returned to Milan, and 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 26 August 2014 also in a temporary deal. After fully recovering he suffered a thigh injury, going on to feature in 16 games in all competitions.

AEK Athens

On 7 August 2015,

AEK Athens F.C. AEK FC ( el, ΠΑΕ A.E.K. ; Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; ''Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos'', meaning ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a Greek professional football club based in Nea Filade ...

announced the signing of Vilà on a three-year deal, with the player stating he hoped this move would see him return to his old form. He played understudy to Aristidis Soiledis during the first part of the season but eventually became the starter, impressing manager

Gus Poyet Gustavo Augusto Poyet Domínguez (; born 15 November 1967) is a Uruguayan professional football manager and former footballer. He is currently the head coach of the Greece national football team. Poyet played as a midfielder and began his caree ...

for his professionalism in training. Vilà started 2016–17's domestic league with a goal, contributing to a 4–1 home victory over

Xanthi FC Xanthi Football Club ( el, Α.Ο. Ξάνθη Π.Α.Ε.) is a Greek professional football club based in Xanthi, Western Thrace and plays at Xanthi FC Arena. The club resigned from the Super League 2 due to financial issues. Founded in 1967, Xan ...

Espanyol return

On 30 August 2017, Vilà returned to his first club Espanyol after agreeing to a three-year deal, with a €25 million buy-out clause.

International career

In 2011, Vilà received his first Spain under-21 call-up. That year, he was selected by manager Luis Milla to the

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...

in Denmark, playing all the matches and minutes for the eventual champions.

Career statistics

Honours

Espanyol B *

: 2008–09 AC Milan *

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

AEK Athens *

Greek Football Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most im ...

: 2015–16 Espanyol *

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 ...

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

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 compe ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Spain U20 *

Mediterranean Games The Mediterranean Games is a multi-sport event organised by the International Committee of Mediterranean Games (CIJM). It is held every four years among athletes from countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea in Africa, Asia and Europe. The fir ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vila, Didac 1989 births Living people Sportspeople from Mataró Spanish men's footballers Footballers from the Province of Barcelona Men's association football fullbacks La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players CE Mataró players RCD Espanyol B footballers RCD Espanyol footballers Real Betis players SD Eibar footballers Serie A players AC Milan players Super League Greece players AEK Athens F.C. players Kings League players Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spain men's under-23 international footballers Competitors at the 2009 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in football Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Spain Catalonia men's international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Greece