Francisco José Rodríguez Gaitán (born 22 May 1995), commonly known as Fran, is a Spanish

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

right 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

CD Calahorra Club Deportivo Calahorra is a Spanish football team based in Calahorra, in the autonomous community of La Rioja. Founded in 1946 it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at the ''Estadio Municipal La Planilla'', with a ...

Club career

Born in

Almuñécar Almuñécar () is a Spanish city and municipality located in the southwestern part of the comarca of the Costa Granadina, in the province of Granada. It is located on the shores of the Mediterranean sea and borders the Granadin municipalities of ...

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...

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 ...

, Fran joined

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 ...

's youth setup in 2008, aged 13, after spells at AD Almuñécar 77 and

Motril CF Motril Club de Fútbol was a Spanish football team based in Motril, Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1984 and dissolved in 2012, it held home matches at '' Estadio Escribano Castilla'', with a capacity of 4,400 seat ...

. He was promoted to the former's C-team in 2014, but made his senior debut with the reserves in a 1–2 away loss against

Atlético Madrid B Atlético de Madrid B is a Spanish football team based in Madrid, in the community of Madrid. Founded on 17 September 1963, it is the reserve team of Atlético Madrid and currently plays in Segunda Federación – Group 5. They play their home ...

on 24 August. Fran scored his first senior goal on 12 October 2014, netting the game's only in an away success of the C-side over

Internacional de Madrid CF Internacional de Madrid, simply known as Internacional or Inter de Madrid, is a Spanish football team based in Villaviciosa de Odón, in the Community of Madrid. Founded in 2002, it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 1, holding home games ...

. He was definitely promoted to the B-team ahead of the 2015–16 campaign, and established himself as a regular starter for the side. On 11 July 2016 Fran signed a three-year contract with

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

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 ...

, as a

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 ...

. He made his professional debut on 27 August, coming on as a second-half substitute for goalscorer

Manuel Lanzarote Manuel 'Manu' Lanzarote Bruno (born 20 January 1984) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a left winger or an attacking midfielder. He amassed Segunda División totals of 151 matches and 37 goals over six seasons, represent ...

in a 3–3 away draw against

CD Lugo Club Deportivo Lugo is a Spanish football team based in Lugo, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Founded on 8 July 1953, it plays in Segunda División, holding home games at '' Estadio Anxo Carro''. History The new board of directors was o ...

. On 12 July 2017, Fran moved to fellow second division team

UD Almería Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' until 2001, when it was renamed ''Unión D ...

on a two-year deal. In the following March, he suffered a

knee In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

injury which took him out of the entire 2018–19 campaign. Fran subsequently resumed his career in the third division, representing CF Rayo Majadahonda and

Personal life

Fran's older brother

Andy Andy may refer to: People * Andy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Horace Andy (born 1951), Jamaican roots reggae songwriter and singer born Horace Hinds * Katja Andy (1907–2013), German-American pianist and pi ...

is also a footballer. A

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, he too was groomed at Real Madrid.

References

External links

Real Madrid profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fran 1995 births Living people Footballers from Almuñécar Spanish footballers Association football defenders Segunda División players Segunda División B players Primera Federación players Tercera División players Real Madrid C footballers Real Madrid Castilla footballers Real Zaragoza players UD Almería players CF Rayo Majadahonda players CD Calahorra players Spain youth international footballers