Fernando Calero Villa (born 14 September 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 le ...

who plays for

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 ...

as a

central defender 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

Malaga

Calero was born in boecillo,

Valladolid Valladolid () is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province o ...

Castile and León Castile and León ( es, Castilla y León ; ast-leo, Castiella y Llión ; gl, Castela e León ) is an autonomous community in northwestern Spain. It was created in 1983, eight years after the end of the Francoist regime, by the merging of the ...

, and finished his formation with

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, ...

. He made his senior debut with the reserves on 9 March 2014, starting in a 2–1

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 ...

home win against Loja CD. Calero scored his first senior goal on 31 January 2015, netting the first in a 2–2 away draw against

UD Maracena Unión Deportiva Maracena is a Spanish football team based in Maracena, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1945, it currently plays in Tercera División – Group 9, holding home matches at ''Ciudad Deportiva de Maracena'', wit ...

Valladolid

On 23 June of the following year he joined

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid () or Valladolid, is a professional football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish league system. The club colo ...

, club he already represented as a youth, being initially 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 ...

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 ...

. In his only season with the side, he was an undisputed starter, scoring once in 37 appearances. On 8 August 2017, Calero was definitely promoted to the main squad in

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 ...

by manager

Luis César Sampedro Luis Ángel César Sampedro (born 3 May 1966), known as Luis César, is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper, currently a manager. Playing career Born in Vilagarcía de Arousa, Province of Pontevedra, Luis César played for ...

, being handed the number 5 jersey. He made his professional debut on 6 September, coming on as a substitute for fellow youth graduate

Ángel Angel is a given name meaning "angel", " messenger". In the English-speaking world Angel is used for both boys and girls. From the medieval Latin masculine name ''Angelus'', which was derived from the name of the heavenly creature (itself derived ...

in a 2–0 away win against SD Huesca, for the season's

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 ...

. On 15 November 2017, Calero renewed his contract until 2021. He scored his first professional goal the following 27 May, in a 2–3 away loss against

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 ...

, and featured regularly during the campaign as his side achieved promotion to

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 ...

. Calero made his debut in the main category of Spanish football on 17 August 2018, starting in a 0–0 away draw against

Girona FC Girona Futbol Club, S.A.D. is a professional football club based in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Founded on 23 July 1930, it plays in La Liga, to which they gained promotion in the 2022 Segunda División play-offs. Girona holds its home matches at ...

Espanyol

On 9 August 2019, Calero agreed to a five-year contract with

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 ...

for a reported fee of €8 million. His release clause was set at €40 million.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

Profile
at the RCD Espanyol website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Calero, Fernando 1995 births Living people Sportspeople from the Province of Valladolid Spanish footballers Footballers from Castile and León Association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Atlético Malagueño players Real Valladolid Promesas players Real Valladolid players RCD Espanyol footballers