Santiago Mina Lorenzo (; born 7 December 1995) 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

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

Saudi Professional League The Saudi Pro League (SPL for short) ( ar, دوري المحترفين السعودي, link=no, ''Dawriyy al-Muḥtarifayni as-Suʿūdī''), known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL for short) for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of associat ...

club Al Shabab on loan from

RC 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), ...

. He spent most of his career at

Celta Celta is Galician, Portuguese and Spanish for the Celts. It may also refer to: * Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA), an English teaching certificate * Celta (train), an international train service connecting Vigo and Port ...

, totalling 163 games and 42 goals across two spells. He made 268 appearances and scored 63 goals in

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 ...

where he also represented

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

, transferring there for €10 million and winning 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 footbal ...

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 ...

. In 2022, Mina was sentenced to four years in prison for

sexual abuse Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assa ...

committed five years earlier.

Club career

Celta

Born in

Vigo Vigo ( , , , ) is a city and Municipalities in Spain, municipality in the province of Pontevedra, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. Located in the northwest of the Iberian Penins ...

, Galicia, Mina played youth football with hometown's

, and made his senior debut with the reserves in the 2012–13 season, in

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 ...

. On 5 January he signed a professional deal with the club, running until 2018. Mina made his first-team – and

– debut for them on 16 February 2013, coming on as a substitute for

Iago Aspas Iago Aspas Juncal (; born 1 August 1987) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a striker for Celta and the Spain national team. He has spent most of his career with Celta, appearing in 418 official games across 13 seasons and scor ...

in the 66th minute of a 3–1 away defeat against

Getafe CF Getafe Club de Fútbol (), or simply Getafe, is a professional football club based in Getafe, a city in the Community of Madrid. The team competes in La Liga, the highest tier of the Spanish football system. The club's home stadium (owned and op ...

. He scored his first top-flight goal on 16 September, but in a 3–2 loss at

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 ...

; at only 17 years, 9 months and 10 days, he became the side's youngest goalscorer in the first division. On 11 April 2015, Mina scored four goals in a 6–1 home rout of

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 Lig ...

, becoming the youngest player in the last 80 years to do so in the Spanish top tier and the first from Celta since 1979.

Valencia

On 4 July 2015, Mina moved to fellow league team

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol (, ca-valencia, València Club de Futbol ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF (or simply Valencia) is a professional football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top flight of the Spa ...

after agreeing to a six-year deal for a €10 million fee. He scored his first competitive goal for them on 5 December, netting four minutes from time in a 1–1 home draw against

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. Founded ...

. On 18 February 2016, in only the first 45 minutes, Mina scored twice and provided three assists in a

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

last-32 tie against

SK Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid Wien (), commonly known as Rapid Vienna, is an Austrian football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the first title in the season 1911–12, ...

, in an eventual 6–0 win also at the

Mestalla Stadium Mestalla Stadium ( es, Estadio de Mestalla , ca-valencia, Estadi de Mestalla ) is a football stadium in Valencia, Spain. The stadium is the home of Valencia Club de Fútbol and has a capacity of 48,600 seats, making it the 8th-largest stadium i ...

(the

half-time In several team sports, matches are played in two halves. Half-time (also written halftime or half time) is the name given to the interval between the two halves of the match. Typically, after half-time, teams swap ends of the field of play in or ...

result was a competition record). Mina scored a career-best 12 league goals in 2017–18 as Valencia came fourth, despite being more often than not a substitute for

Simone Zaza Simone Zaza (born 25 June 1991) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a striker, most recently for club Torino. Zaza began his professional club career with Atalanta in 2008, where he remained for two seasons. In 2010, he moved t ...

and

Rodrigo Rodrigo is a Spanish, Portuguese and Italian name derived from the Germanic name ''Roderick'' (Gothic ''*Hroþareiks'', via Latinized ''Rodericus'' or ''Rudericus''), given specifically in reference to either King Roderic (d. 712), the last Vis ...

; halfway through the campaign, the trio had 12 more goals than

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 "BBC" attacking line. The following season, he netted braces in

victories over

CD Ebro Club Deportivo Ebro is a Spanish football club in Zaragoza, in the autonomous community of Aragon. Founded in 1942, it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 3, holding home games at '' Campo Municipal de Fútbol La Almozara'', which has a cap ...

(

round of 32 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

) and

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 ...

(last 16) as his club picked up their first honour for 11 years, being unused in the 2–1 final defeat of Barcelona on 25 May 2019.

Return to Celta

After four years at the

, Mina returned to Celta on a five-year contract as

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 ...

moved in the opposite direction. In

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, he scored 12 goals in partnership with Aspas' 14; this included both goals of a 2–1 win at Barcelona on 16 May to end that team's title hopes. In July 2022, Celta reached an agreement to loan Mina to

Aris Thessaloniki F.C. Aris FC ( el, ΠΑΕ Άρης), commonly known as Aris Thessaloniki FC, AFC or simply Aris, is a Greek professional football club based in the city of Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece. Created in 1914 as ''Aris Thessaloniki Football Club'', th ...

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

, but the player refused the deal, as he did with

Shabab Al Ahli Club Shabab Al-Ahli Club ( ar, نادي شباب الأهلي) is a Emirati professional association football club based in Dubai, that currently plays in the UAE ADNOC Pro League. Al-Ahli is one of the most successful clubs in the UAE. Al Ahli F ...

from the United Arab Emirates. On 23 August, he joined the

's Al Shabab FC on a one-year loan for a fee of €2.5 million and salary of €1 million. He scored on his debut as a substitute three days later, concluding a 3–0 home win over

Al Batin FC Al Batin Football Club ( ar, نادي الباطن لكرة القدم) is a Saudi Arabian professional football club based in Hafar al-Batin, Eastern Province, that competes in the Saudi Professional League. The club was founded in 1979. Al-Ba ...

Personal life

Mina's father, also named

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

, was also a footballer. A defender, he played for several clubs in the 1970s and 1980s, including Celta. In December 2019, Mina was charged with

sexual assault Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...

relating to an incident in

Mojácar Mojácar () is a municipality situated in the southeast of the Province of Almería (Andalucia) in southern Spain, bordering the Mediterranean Sea. It is 90 km from the capital of the province, Almería. It is an elevated mountain village dis ...

two years earlier. He and his alleged accomplice, former Celta teammate David Goldar, were tried in March 2022. On 4 May, Mina was sentenced to four years in prison for

, being found not guilty of the more serious offence due to lack of violence; he was ordered to pay €50,000 in compensation. The judge found it proven that the victim had returned to the footballers' caravan to spend the night with Goldar, when Mina entered undressed and blocked the exit. He then penetrated her mouth with his genitalia and her genitalia with his fingers, causing injuries. While the victim's account was consistent, Mina's testimony varied and was different to that of Goldar. After his conviction, he was banished from Celta by club president Carlos Mouriño, who then reintegrated him into training as a paid employee until the end of the appeals process.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Valencia *

: 2018–19

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mina, Santi 1995 births Living people Spanish footballers Footballers from Vigo Association football forwards La Liga players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Celta de Vigo B players RC Celta de Vigo players Valencia CF players Saudi Professional League players Al-Shabab FC (Riyadh) players Spain youth international footballers Spain under-21 international footballers Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia People convicted of sex crimes Sportspeople convicted of crimes 21st-century Spanish criminals