Josimar Aldair Quintero Quintero (; born 3 February 1997) is an Ecuadorian 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

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 boundarie ...

for

Maltese Premier League The Maltese Premier League, known as BOV Premier League for sponsorship reasons with Bank of Valletta ( colloquially known as ''Il-Kampjonat Premjer''), is the highest level of professional football in Malta. Managed by the Malta Football Associa ...

side Gudja United.

Club career

Chelsea

Born in

Guayaquil , motto = Por Guayaquil Independiente en, For Independent Guayaquil , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Ecuador#South America , pushpin_re ...

, Quintero moved to Spain with his family at the age of five. He joined ''

La Masia La Masia de Can Planes, usually shortened to La Masia (; en, "The Farmhouse"), is a term used for FC Barcelona's youth academy. The academy includes more than 300 young players. It has been an instrumental factor in Barcelona's European success ...

'', the youth academy of

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, at the age of eight. In 2013, it was reported that Arsenal and

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

were interested in securing his services, but Quintero opted to join English club

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

in July 2014. However, due to paperwork and visa issues, Quintero was unable to play a competitive match for Chelsea until he turned 18. During the 2014–15 under-21 campaign, Quintero became a key figure in Adi Viveash's starting eleven, featuring eighteen times and scoring once in all competitions. He scored his first goal for the Chelsea academy in an

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 ...

encounter against Portuguese club

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

. Following his debut season in England, Quintero transitioned from a winger to a central midfielder. On 5 July 2017, following reports suggesting Quintero was ready to leave Chelsea, he joined Russian club

Rostov Rostov ( rus, Росто́в, p=rɐˈstof) is a town in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, one of the oldest in the country and a tourist center of the Golden Ring. It is located on the shores of Lake Nero, northeast of Moscow. Population: While ...

on a season-long loan. On 20 September 2017, Quintero made his Rostov debut during their cup tie against Volgar Astrakhan, replacing Žan Majer in their 2–0 away victory. On 2 January 2018, Rostov removed Quintero from their official squad list. Following his return from Rostov, Quintero joined Spanish club Betis B in January 2018 on loan for the remainder of the campaign. The deal also included an option to purchase Quintero at the conclusion of the loan spell. On 4 March 2018, he made his Betis B debut during their 3–1 away defeat against Mérida, replacing Jesús Pozo in the 79th minute. On 10 August 2018, Quintero agreed to join Spanish third-tier club

Lleida Esportiu Club Lleida Esportiu is a Spanish football team based in Lleida, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in July 2011 it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 3, holding home games at Camp d'Esports, with a capacity of 13,500 seat ...

on a season-long loan.

Espanyol B

On 26 July 2019, Quintero signed for Segunda División B club Espanyol B on a one-year deal with an option of a two-year extension.

Real Monarchs

On 3 December 2020, Quintero moved to

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, p ...

side

Real Monarchs Real Monarchs is a professional soccer club playing in the MLS Next Pro, a third division league of American soccer. The team is owned by, and operates as the reserve team of, the Major League Soccer club Real Salt Lake. While the senior club is ...

Gudja United

After two years without a club, it was confirmed at the end of January 2024 that Quintero had signed with

side Gudja United.Gudja United sign Ecuadorian midfielder
maltafootball.com, 31 January 2024

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Quintero, Josimar 1997 births Living people Footballers from Guayaquil Ecuadorian men's footballers Ecuadorian expatriate men's footballers Men's association football midfielders FC Barcelona players Chelsea F.C. players FC Rostov players Betis Deportivo Balompié footballers RCD Espanyol B footballers Lleida Esportiu footballers Real Monarchs players Gudja United F.C. players Primera Federación players USL Championship players Maltese Premier League players Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in England Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Malta