Luis Hernández Rodríguez (born 14 April 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

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

Cádiz Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...

. He joined the

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 ...

academy as a nine-year-old, but never made an appearance for the senior team. He made his professional debut with

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting (although in an international context this can lead to confusion with Sporting Clube de Portugal) is a Spanish football club from Gijón, P ...

in 2012, playing 139 competitive matches and scoring one goal across four seasons. He then signed with

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

, playing nine games before moving to

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

in January 2017. In 2020, he joined Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Club career

Early years

Born in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, Hernández finished his formative years with hometown club

, making his senior debuts by first representing

the C C is the third letter in the Latin alphabet. C or c may also refer to: Computing * C (programming language), developed at Bell Labs in 1972 * C, a hexadecimal digit * C, a computable function, the set of all computable decision problems * C ...

and then

the B team The B Team is a global nonprofit initiative co-founded by Sir Richard Branson and Jochen Zeitz. It advocates for business practices that are more centered on humanity and the climate. History In 2013, a group of leaders came together following ...

. In August 2011, he was expected to join

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

side

Gent Gent is a shortened form of the word gentleman. It may also refer to: * Ghent (Dutch: Gent), a Belgian city ** K.A.A. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** K.R.C. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** Gent RFC, a rugby club in Ghent ** .gent, a ...

but nothing came of it.

Sporting Gijón

In January 2012, Hernández went on trial with Getafe B. However, he signed an 18-month deal with

instead, being assigned to the reserves in

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 ...

. On 2 September 2012, he made his professional debut in the

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 ...

, playing the full 90 minutes in a 0–0 away draw against

Racing de Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system ...

. On 31 January 2013, Hernández was promoted to the

Asturians Asturians ( ast, asturianos) are a Celtic-Romance ethnic group native to the autonomous community of Asturias, in the North-West of the Iberian Peninsula. Culture and society Heritage Asturians are directly descended from the Astures, who wer ...

' first team alongside Borja López. He finished the season as an undisputed starter, appearing in 21 matches in all competitions. Hernández was an ever-present figure in the following campaigns, playing 38 league games in 2013–14 and 41 in 2014–15. He scored his first goal for the team on 24 November 2013, netting their first in a 3–1 win at

Lugo Lugo (, ; la, Lucus Augusti) is a city in northwestern Spain in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. It is the capital of the Lugo (province), province of Lugo. The municipality had a population ...

. On 23 August 2015, Hernández 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, starting in a 0–0 home draw against Real Madrid. He made a total of 140 interceptions, more than any other player during the season, while Sporting barely survived relegation by a point.

Leicester City

On 21 June 2016, Hernández signed for

champions

in a free transfer on a four-year deal. He made his competitive debut on 7 August, coming on as a 63rd-minute substitute for

Danny Simpson Daniel Peter Simpson (born 4 January 1987) is an English professional association football, footballer who last played as a right-back for EFL Championship, Championship side Bristol City F.C., Bristol City. A product of the Manchester United ...

in a 2–1 loss against

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

in the

FA Community Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...

. His first appearance in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

took place on 14 September, in a 3–0 group stage win at

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

. Hernández ultimately struggled to break into the first team in 2016–17, appearing mostly as an unused substitute. In January 2017,

were reported to be in advanced talks with Leicester over a possible loan deal for the player.

Málaga

On 24 January 2017, after spending just six months in England, Hernández returned to Spain and its top level to join Málaga on a three-and-a-half-year deal for an undisclosed fee. He made his debut three days later in a 1–1 draw away to

Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club in Pamplona, Navarre. Founded on 24 October 1920, the club currently plays in La Liga, holding home games at the 23,576-capacity El ...

, and scored his first goal for the club on 14 May in another away fixture, 2–2 against

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...

. Hernández scored his second goal for the team on 12 June 2019, in a 4–2 defeat to

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

in the first leg of the promotion play-offs semi-final. He also took part in the second match, a 1–0 loss. Along with seven other first-team players, Hernández was released on 3 October 2020 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 ...

Maccabi Tel Aviv

Hernández joined

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

on 5 October 2020, agreeing to a one-year contract with an option to extend a further season. His team came runners-up in the

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League ( he, ליגת העל, ''Ligat Ha`Al'', ), is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Israeli Football League – the state's league of Israel. The league is contested b ...

in his first season, and he also scored in

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

to help them defeat Hapoel Tel Aviv 2–1 in

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

of the

State Cup The Israel State Cup ( he, גביע המדינה, ''Gvia HaMedina''), is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Football in Israel, Israeli football, run by the Israel Football Association (IFA). The State Cup was first he ...

Cádiz

On 31 January 2022, Hernández returned to Spain and its top tier after signing a 18-month deal with

Career statistics

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hernandez, Luis 1989 births Living people Spanish footballers Footballers from Madrid Association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Real Madrid C footballers Real Madrid Castilla footballers Sporting de Gijón B players Sporting de Gijón players Málaga CF players Cádiz CF players Premier League players Leicester City F.C. players Israeli Premier League players Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. players Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Israel Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Israel