Manuel Javier Vallejo Galván (; born 14 February 1997) 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 winger or a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

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 ...

, on loan from

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 ...

Club career

Cádiz

Born in Chiclana de la Frontera,

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, ...

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 ...

, Vallejo finished his formation with

Cádiz CF Cádiz Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., known simply as Cádiz, is a Spanish professional football club based in Cádiz, Andalusia. Founded in 1910, the club competes in the La Liga, holding home games at Nuevo Mirandilla, with a seating capacity of 20 ...

. He made his senior debut with the reserves on 25 January 2015, coming on as a second-half substitute 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 ...

away loss against Atlético Sanluqueño CF. Vallejo scored his first senior goal on 17 May 2015, netting his team's second in a 3–2 loss at

CD Mairena Club Deportivo Mairena is a Spanish football team based in Mairena del Alcor, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1922, it plays in Tercera División – Group 10, holding home games at '' Estadio Nuevo San Bartolomé'', with a ...

. On 18 October, he scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in a 7–1 home routing of

CD Roda Club Deportivo Roda is a Spanish football team based in Villarreal, in the autonomous community of Valencian Community. Founded in 1974, it plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 6, holding home matches at '' Ciutat Esportiva Pamesa Ceràmic ...

, and finished the campaign with a career-best 23 goals. Vallejo made his first team debut on 13 January 2016, playing the last 30 minutes in a 2–0 away loss against

Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta de Vigo or simply Celta, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues ...

, 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 ...

. He made his

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 ...

debut on 28 October of the following year, replacing Salvi in a 0–0 home draw against Rayo Vallecano. On 24 July 2018, Vallejo renewed his contract until 2021, and extended it to a further year on 22 August, being definitely promoted to the main squad. He scored his first professional goal on 12 September 2018, netting the winner in a 2–1 away defeat of CD Tenerife, for the season's

. Vallejo scored his first league goal on 27 October 2018, netting the equalizer in a 2–1 away defeat of

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 20 December, he further extended his contract, signing until 2023.

Valencia

On 7 February 2019,

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 ...

side Valencia CF reached an agreement with Cádiz to sign Vallejo; the player remained on loan at the ''Amarillos'' until June. On 2 September 2019, due to the arrival of

Thierry Correia Thierry Rendall Correia (born 9 March 1999) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a right-back for La Liga club Valencia. Club career Sporting CP Born in Amadora, Lisbon metropolitan area of Cape Verdean descent, Correia joined ...

, Vallejo changed his shirt number from 2 to 15. He made his debut in the top tier on 28 September 2019, coming on as a 69th-minute substitute for

Maxi Gómez Maximiliano "Maxi" Gómez González (; born 14 August 1996) is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a striker for Süper Lig club Trabzonspor and the Uruguay national team. Having begun his career with Defensor Sporting, he moved ...

in 1–0 away victory 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 ...

, and his Champions League debut on 5 November 2019 when he came on as a 59th-minute substitute for

Lee Kang-in Lee Kang-in ( ko, 이강인; born 19 February 2001) is a South Korean professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for La Liga club Mallorca and the South Korea national team. Lee was the Asian Football Confederation's Asian ...

in a 4–1 home thrashing of French side

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...

. Vallejo scored his first goal in the main category of Spanish football on 21 December 2019, netting a last-minute equalizer in 1–1 away draw against

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 ...

Loan to Alavés

On 31 January 2022, Vallejo was loaned to fellow top-tier side

Deportivo Alavés Deportivo Alavés, S.A.D. (; ''Sporting Alavés''), usually abbreviated to Alavés, is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the ...

for the remainder of the season.

Girona

On 1 September 2022, Vallejo signed a three-year contract with

also in the top tier.

Loans to Oviedo and Zaragoza

On 27 January 2023, Vallejo joined

Real Oviedo Real Oviedo is a Spanish football club based in Oviedo, Asturias. Founded on 26 March 1926 as a result of the merger of two clubs who had maintained a large sporting rivalry for years in the city: ''Real Stadium Club Ovetense'' and ''Real Club De ...

on loan until the end of the second division season. On 23 August, he moved to fellow league team

also in a temporary deal.

Personal life

Vallejo's father, Javi, is also a footballer.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

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 ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vallejo, Manu 1997 births Living people People from Chiclana de la Frontera Footballers from the Province of Cádiz Spanish men's footballers Men's association football wingers Men's association football forwards Spain men's under-21 international footballers La Liga players Segunda División players Tercera División players Cádiz CF Mirandilla players Cádiz CF players Valencia CF players Deportivo Alavés players Girona FC players Real Oviedo players Real Zaragoza players