Alejandro José Marqués Méndez (born 4 August 2000) is a 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 lea ...

who plays as a forward for

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

club

Estoril Estoril () is a town in the civil parish of Cascais e Estoril of the Portuguese Municipality of Cascais, on the Portuguese Riviera. It is a popular tourist destination, with hotels, beaches, and the Casino Estoril. It has been home to numero ...

and the Venezuela national team. Born in Venezuela, he represented Spain at youth level since 2019, and was part of the team that won the

2019 UEFA European Under-19 Championship The 2019 UEFA European Under-19 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-19 Euro 2019) was the 18th edition of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship (68th edition if the Under-18 and Junior eras are included), the annual international youth associ ...

. He moved to Spain at an early age and holds dual-citizenship.

Club career

Youth

Born in

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

, Marqués moved to Spain aged 13 and joined

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

's youth setup in 2013. He subsequently moved to UFB Jàbac Terrassa in the following year, before joining

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

's ''Juvenil'' squad on 14 June 2017.

Barcelona B

Marqués made his senior debut with the reserves on 17 March 2018, coming on as a second-half substitute for Marcus McGuane in a 1–1 away draw against

Lorca FC Lorca Fútbol Club was a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Lorca, Spain, Lorca, in the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia. Founded in 2003, it last played in Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol in the Region of ...

in the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

championship.

Juventus U23

On 24 January 2020, Barcelona B sold Marqués to

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

for €8.2 million, in exchange for Matheus Pereira on loan. He made his first appearance for Juventus U23 on 16 February, in a 2–1

Serie C The Serie C (), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing ...

away win over

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

. Marqués' first goal came on 13 July, in a 2–2 draw against

Carrarese Carrarese Calcio 1908, commonly referred to as Carrarese, is an Italian football club based in Carrara, Tuscany. The team plays in Serie B, second tier of Italian football, after promotion from Serie C in 2023–24. History The club was foun ...

in the quarter-finals of the Serie C promotion play-offs.

Loans

On 27 August 2021, Marqués returned to Spain after agreeing to a one-year loan deal with Mirandés in the second division. On 28 July 2022, he was loaned to

side

Estoril

On 27 July 2023, Estoril announced the permanent signing of Marqués on a three-year deal.

International career

While eligible to represent his native

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

, Marques was called-up to the Spain national under-19 team. He represented them at the

, scoring three goals in nine appearances, and helping his side win the title. On 25 May 2022, he was first called up by Venezuela.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Barcelona *

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 under-19 teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions Le ...

: 2017–18 Juventus U23 *

Coppa Italia Serie C Coppa Italia Serie C (), formerly named Coppa Italia Lega Pro, is a straight knock-out based competition involving teams from Serie C in Italian football first held in 1972. Format There are a total of six rounds in the competition. It begins i ...

: 2019–20 Spain U19 *

UEFA European Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-19, is an annual football competition, contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain is the most successful team in this competit ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marques, Alejandro 2000 births Living people Footballers from Caracas Venezuelan emigrants to Spain Venezuelan men's footballers Spanish men's footballers Spain men's youth international footballers Venezuela men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Segunda División players Segunda División B players Serie C players Primeira Liga players FC Barcelona players FC Barcelona Atlètic players Juventus FC players Juventus Next Gen players CD Mirandés footballers G.D. Estoril Praia players Venezuelan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in Portugal 21st-century Spanish sportsmen