Oriol Busquets Mas (born 20 January 1999) 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

defensive 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 boundari ...

for Primeira Liga club F.C. Arouca.

Club career

Barcelona

Born in

Sant Feliu de Guíxols Sant Feliu de Guíxols () is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Baix Empordà in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated on the Costa Brava and is an important port and tourist centre. The district abuts to the north, the upmarket s'Agaró resort ...

Girona Girona (officially and in Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in 2020. Girona is the capital ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the nort ...

, Busquets joined

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Found ...

's youth setup in 2007 at age 8, after a successful trial. After progressing through the ranks, he made his senior debut with the reserves on 29 April 2017, while still a youth, coming on as a late substitute for Alberto Perea in a 2–0 Segunda División B home win against

AE Prat Associació Esportiva Prat is a Spanish football team based in El Prat de Llobregat, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1945 it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 3, holding home games at ''Estadi Sagnier'', with a 500-s ...

. Busquets played his first game as a professional on 19 August 2017, starting in a 2–1 away victory over

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 c ...

in the Segunda División. His maiden appearance for the first team came on 29 November, when he started and played 62 minutes in the 5–0 defeat of

Real Murcia Real Murcia Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., commonly known as Real Murcia (, "Royal Murcia"), is a Spanish football club based in Murcia, in the Región de Murcia. Founded in 1919, it currently plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, playing ho ...

in the round of 32 of the

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 ...

. On 9 February 2018, Busquets sustained a serious knee injury in a training session, tearing the

meniscus Meniscus may refer to: *Meniscus (anatomy), crescent-shaped fibrocartilaginous structure that partly divides a joint cavity *Meniscus (liquid) The meniscus (plural: ''menisci'', from the Greek for "crescent") is the curve in the upper surface ...

in a fashion similar to fellow youth graduate Rafinha a year earlier. Having returned to active, he scored his first senior goal on 1 December of the same year in a 2–2 home draw with

Valencia CF Mestalla Valencia Club de Fútbol Mestalla, shortened to Valencia Mestalla, is the reserve team of Valencia CF, a Spanish football club based in Valencia, in the namesake community. Founded in 1944, and currently plays in Segunda Federación – Group ...

. On 27 August 2019, Busquets joined Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

club

FC Twente Football Club Twente () is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Enschede, sometimes known internationally as Twente Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub Enschede with Enschedese ...

on a one-year loan deal. His maiden appearance in top-flight football took place on 1 September when he replaced compatriot

Javier Espinosa Javier Espinosa González (born 19 September 1992) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for Cypriot club AEK Larnaca FC as a central midfielder. Club career Barcelona B Born in Talavera de la Reina, Toledo, Castile-La Mancha, Espin ...

for the final 15 minutes of a 3–1 home win against FC Utrecht, where fellow Spaniards Aitor Cantalapiedra (Twente) and Adrián Dalmau (Utrecht) also scored.

Clermont

On 28 August 2021, Busquets signed with Clermont Foot on a three-year contract. He played his first Ligue 1 match on 19 September, five minutes in the 1–1 home draw with Stade Brestois 29. Busquets made only ten competitive appearances during his spell in France.

Arouca

Busquets moved clubs and countries again in summer 2022, joining F.C. Arouca from Portugal on a three-year deal; Clermont did not require any compensation to release him from his contract, but did retain 35% of the player's rights.

International career

Busquets won his only

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

for Spain at under-21 level on 6 September 2019, playing the entire 1–0 win in

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

for the 2021 UEFA European Championship qualifiers.

Personal life

Busquets' older brother, Pol, was also a footballer. He played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

, and both he and their father Jordi were developed at Barcelona.

Career statistics

Honours

Barcelona *

: 2017–18 *

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the youth teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions League ...

: 2017–18 Spain U17 *

UEFA European Under-17 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship or simply UEFA Under-17 Championship, is an annual football competition contested by the European men's under-17 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Spain is the most successful team in this ...

runner-up:

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

References

External links

FC Barcelona official profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Busquets, Oriol 1999 births Living people People from Baix Empordà Sportspeople from the Province of Girona Spanish footballers Footballers from Catalonia Men's association football midfielders Segunda División players Segunda División B players FC Barcelona Atlètic players FC Barcelona players Eredivisie players FC Twente players Ligue 1 players Championnat National 3 players Clermont Foot players Primeira Liga players F.C. Arouca players Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Portugal Spanish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Spanish expatriate sportspeople in France Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Portugal