Juan Cruz Díaz Espósito (born 25 April 2000), known as Juan Cruz, 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 either as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

or a winger for

CD Leganés Club Deportivo Leganés, S.A.D. is a professional football club based in Leganés, Community of Madrid. They currently compete in La Liga, the first tier of the Spanish league system. Leganés was officially founded 23 June 1928 and played thei ...

Club career

Born in

Quilmes Quilmes () is a city on the coast of the Rio de la Plata, in the , on the southeast end of the Greater Buenos Aires, being some away from the urban centre area of Buenos Aires. The city was founded in 1666 and is the seat of the eponymous '' ...

, Argentina, Cruz grew up in

Rincón de la Victoria Rincón de la Victoria () is a municipality in the province of Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalusia in southern Spain. It is the municipality with the highest well-being in the province of Malaga, according to the Synthetic Indicator o ...

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

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 ...

, and joined

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, who compete in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system, following the ...

's youth setup in 2010. He made his senior debut with the reserves on 19 November 2017, coming on as a second-half substitute for

Nacho Abeledo Ignacio "Nacho" de Loyola Abeledo Rute (; born 5 January 1996) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a left winger for the I-League club Gokulam Kerala. Club career Born in Huelva, Andalusia, Abeledo joined Real Betis' youth setup ...

in a 5–1

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 ...

home routing of Martos CD. Cruz made his first team – and

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 19 May 2018, replacing

Mehdi Lacen Medhi Gregory Giuseppe Lacen (; born 15 March 1984) is a retired professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. After starting out at Laval, he spent most of his professional career in Spain, representing Alavés, Racing de Sant ...

in a 0–1 home loss against

Getafe CF Getafe Club de Fútbol S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Getafe, a city in the Community of Madrid. They compete in La Liga, the top tier of the Football in Spain, Spanish football. The team has pla ...

. On 1 July 2021, he signed a two-year contract with

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 ...

after his deal with Málaga expired; he was assigned to the B-team. On 21 October 2022, five days after his first team debut for the ''Verdiblancos'', Cruz signed a new contract with the club until 2025. He scored his first professional goal nine days later, netting the opener in a 2–0 away win over

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad ( ; ''Royal Society'') in English, and Erreala or Reala in Basque language, Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Donostia / San Sebastián, ...

. Definitely promoted to the first team of Betis for the 2023–24 season, Cruz only featured rarely before moving to

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 ...

side

on loan on 1 February 2024. After helping in their promotion to the top tier as champions, he signed a permanent four-year contract with the club on 12 June.

Honours

;Leganés *

: 2023–24 ;Spain U18 *

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 ...

: Gold Medal

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

;Individual * La Liga Goal of the Month:

August 2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cruz, Juan 2000 births Living people Footballers from Quilmes Argentine men's footballers Spanish men's footballers Men's association football wingers Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Primera Federación players Segunda Federación players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Atlético Malagueño players Málaga CF players Betis Deportivo Balompié footballers Real Betis players CD Leganés players Spain men's youth international footballers Competitors at the 2018 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Spain Mediterranean Games medalists in football Footballers from the Province of Málaga 21st-century Argentine sportsmen 21st-century Spanish sportsmen