Dídac Vilà Rosselló (; born 9 June 1989) 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 lea ...

who plays as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

Club career

Espanyol

Born in

Mataró Mataró () is the capital and largest town of the Maresme county in Catalonia, Spain. It is located on the Costa del Maresme, Maresme coast, to the south of Costa Brava, between Cabrera de Mar and Sant Andreu de Llavaneres, north-east of Barcel ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of 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 c ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, Vilà joined local

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 system at the age of 10, making his senior debut in 2008–09 and helping the reserves promote from the

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

, as champions. He was promoted to the first team by manager Mauricio Pochettino, making his

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

debut on 30 January 2010 in a 1–0 home win against

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

(which, in his own words, came as a "surprise") and ending his first professional season with 11 league games, starting and playing all the minutes in every match as the ''Pericos'' finished in mid-table. Previously, he appeared with the main squad in the 2008 final of the

Copa Catalunya The Copa Catalunya () is a knockout competition organised by the Catalan Football Federation for football clubs in the Catalonia autonomous community of Spain. History Between 1903 and 1940, it was known as the ''Catalan football championship ...

, lost 2–1 to

UE Sant Andreu Unió Esportiva Sant Andreu () is a Spanish football club based in the district of Sant Andreu in Barcelona, Catalonia. Founded in 1909, it plays in , holding home matches at '' Camp Municipal Narcís Sala'', with an all-seated capacity of 6,56 ...

, and signed a five-year contract with the club shortly after. After missing the first months of the 2010–11 campaign due to physical problems, Vilà once again gained first-choice status, taking over longtime incumbent – and fellow youth graduate – David García.

AC Milan

On 28 January 2011, Vilà was bought by

AC Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

for a reported €3 million. After only one official appearance for the Italians (the 0–0 draw away to

Udinese Calcio Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional association football, football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football league system, Italian fo ...

), and subsequently being highly critical of coach

Massimiliano Allegri Massimiliano "Max" Allegri (; born 11 August 1967) is an Italian professional Association football, football manager and former professional player. He is currently manager of Serie A club AC Milan. During his playing career, Allegri played in ...

, he returned to Espanyol in early June 2011 in a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

-long loan. He only missed one match during the league campaign, scoring twice but in as many away losses. Vilà was set to join

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol, S. A. D. (; ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF or simply Valencia, is a Spanish professional Association football, football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top tier of the Spani ...

on loan at the beginning of 2012–13 with the option of making the move permanent at the end of the season, but the deal fell apart as he did not pass the required medical exams. Subsequently, the player underwent surgery, failing to play in a competitive match for the ''Rossoneri''. For the 2013–14 campaign, Vilà moved to

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

on loan, again being bothered by physical problems – including a leg fracture. After the

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

ns' relegation he subsequently returned to Milan, and joined

SD Eibar Sociedad Deportiva Eibar (in ) is a Spanish football league teams, Spanish professional football club based in Eibar, Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country. Founded on 30 November 1940, the men’s te ...

on 26 August 2014 also in a temporary deal. After fully recovering he suffered a thigh injury, going on to feature in 16 games in all competitions.

AEK Athens

On 7 August 2015, AEK Athens F.C. announced the signing of Vilà on a three-year deal, with the player stating he hoped this move would see him return to his old form. He played understudy to Aristidis Soiledis during the first part of the season but eventually became the starter, impressing manager Gus Poyet for his professionalism in training. Vilà started 2016–17's domestic league with a goal, contributing to a 4–1 home victory over Xanthi FC.

Espanyol return

On 30 August 2017, Vilà returned to his first club Espanyol after agreeing to a three-year deal, with a €25 million buy-out clause.

International career

In 2011, Vilà received his first Spain under-21 call-up. That year, he was selected by manager Luis Milla to the

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

in Denmark, playing all the matches and minutes for the eventual champions.

Career statistics

Honours

Espanyol B *

: 2008–09 AC Milan *

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

AEK Athens *

Greek Football Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

: 2015–16 Espanyol *

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 ...

: 2020–21 Spain U21 *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

Spain U20 *

Mediterranean Games The Mediterranean Games is a multi-sport event organised by the International Committee of Mediterranean Games (CIJM). It is held every four years among athletes from countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea in Africa, Asia and Europe. The fi ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vila, Didac 1989 births Living people 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Mataró Men's association football fullbacks La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players CE Mataró players RCD Espanyol B footballers RCD Espanyol footballers Real Betis players SD Eibar footballers Serie A players AC Milan players Super League Greece players AEK Athens F.C. players Kings League players Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spain men's under-23 international footballers Competitors at the 2009 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in football Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Spain Catalonia men's international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Greece