Jonathan "Joni" Montiel Caballero (born 3 September 1998) 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

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 ...

for Levante UD, on loan from

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La Li ...

Club career

Montiel was born in El Pozo del Tío Raimundo,

Puente de Vallecas Puente de Vallecas (''Bridge of Vallecas'') is one of the 21 districts of the city of Madrid, Spain. It forms, with the district of Villa de Vallecas Villa de Vallecas (''Village of Vallecas'') is one of the 21 districts of the city of Madrid, S ...

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

. He joined

's youth setup in 2010 at the age of 11. He made his senior debut on 25 October 2015, starting with the reserves in a 1–1

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 ...

home draw against

Fútbol Alcobendas Sport Paracuellos MX S.A.D., formerly known as Paracuellos Antamira is a Spanish football club based in Paracuellos de Jarama, in the autonomous community of Madrid. Founded in 1995, it plays in , holding home games at ''Estadio Municipal'', which has ...

. Montiel was first included in a first team matchday squad at the age of 17, remaining an unused substitute in

's 3–1 loss at neighbours Getafe CF in the last 32 second leg of 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 footb ...

, advancing on the away goals rule. Four days later, he featured in a

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' ...

game for the first time, playing the final ten minutes in place of

Zé Castro José Eduardo Rosa Vale de Castro (born 13 January 1983), commonly known as Zé Castro, is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a central defender. He started and finished his professional career with Académica, but spent 11 years in ...

as the team lost 10–2 at Real Madrid; aged 17 years and 108 days, he became the youngest player ever to appear for the club in an official match, surpassing Isi by 32 days. On 24 April 2016, Montiel scored his first senior goal, netting the second for the B's in a 3–0 home win against

AD Parla Agrupación Deportiva Parla is a Spanish football team based in Parla, in the autonomous community of Madrid. Founded in 1973 it plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 7, holding home games at '' Estadio Los Prados'', with a capacity of 4,00 ...

. In the 2016 summer, after the main squad's

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

, he was definitely promoted to

José Ramón Sandoval José Ramón Sandoval Huertas (born 2 May 1968) is a Spanish football manager. Football career After coaching several amateur teams in the Community of Madrid, whilst also working as a cook in his family business, Madrid-born Sandoval joined Ra ...

's team. On 30 January 2018, Montiel signed a new three-year contract with Rayo and was immediately loaned to

CD Toledo Club Deportivo Toledo, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Toledo, in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. Founded in 1928 it plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 18, holding home games at ''Estadio Salto del Caballo'', w ...

in Segunda División B. On 31 August, he moved to Deportivo Fabril also in a temporary deal. Montiel managed to feature in one league match for

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, Spain. They currently play in the Primera División RFEF – ...

's main squad before returning to Rayo in July 2019; he was subsequently assigned to the main squad in Segunda División. He scored his first professional goal on 8 March 2020, netting his team's last goal before the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

in a 3–2 home loss against

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 ''Es ...

. On 2 September 2020, after staying more than 20 days without training due to rejecting Rayo's renewal offer, Montiel extended his contract with the club until 2024. He featured in 23 league matches during the campaign, scoring once as his side returned to the top tier after a two-year absence. On 28 July 2021, Montiel was loaned to Real Oviedo in the second division, for one year. On 14 July of the following year, he moved to fellow league team Levante UD, also in a temporary deal.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

Rayo Vallecano profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Montiel, Joni 1998 births Living people Footballers from Madrid Spanish footballers Association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Rayo Vallecano B players Rayo Vallecano players CD Toledo players Deportivo Fabril players Deportivo de La Coruña players Real Oviedo players Levante UD footballers Spain youth international footballers