Xabier 'Xabi' Castillo Aranburu (born 29 March 1986) is a Spanish former 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 played as a left-back.

Club career

Born in

Durango, Biscay Durango is a town and municipality of the historical territory and province of Biscay, located in the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, Spain. It is the main town of Durangaldea, one of the ''comarcas of Spain, comarcas'' of B ...

, Castillo came up through the ranks 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 ...

, but made his senior debut with Basque neighbours

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 ...

, where he had finished his football development. His first professional experience came with

UD Las Palmas Unión Deportiva Las Palmas, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Las Palmas, on the island of Gran Canaria in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded on 22 August 1949, it plays in Segunda División, holding home games at the ...

on loan, in 2006–07's

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 ...

. In his first two seasons with Real Sociedad's first team he was first choice, in the same level. On 15 July 2009, Castillo returned his first '' alma mater'' and signed a four-year deal. He 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 in the campaign opener (30 August 2009), a 1–0 home win against

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

, and made a total of 45 competitive appearances in his first two years. Castillo spent the entire 2011–12 on the sidelines, due to a patellar ligament injury. Upon returning he was only a fringe player, being released by the Marcelo Bielsa-led squad in June 2013 after his contract expired and returning to former club Las Palmas. On 10 July 2014, Castillo joined

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 ...

also of the second tier.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Castillo, Xabi 1986 births Living people People from Durango, Biscay Footballers from Biscay Spanish men's footballers Men's association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Real Sociedad B footballers Real Sociedad footballers UD Las Palmas players Athletic Bilbao footballers Deportivo Alavés players Spain men's youth international footballers Basque Country men's international footballers