Unai Núñez Gestoso (; ; born 30 January 1997) 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 ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Celta Celta is Galician, Portuguese and Spanish for the Celts. It may also refer to: * Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults CELTA is an initial teacher training qualification for teaching English as a second or foreign language (ESL ...

, on loan from

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country of Spain. They are known as ''Los Le ...

, and the Spain national team.

Club career

Born in

Sestao Sestao is a town and municipality of 27,296 inhabitants located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, northern Spain. It is in the left bank of the Estuary of Bilbao and part of Bilbao's metropolitan area. ...

Biscay Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao. ...

, Basque Country and raised in neighbouring

Portugalete Portugalete is a town lying to the west of Bilbao in the province of Biscay in the Autonomous Community of Basque Country, northern Spain. The town has 45,766 inhabitants (2019 census) and is part of Bilbao's metropolitan area. It is located a ...

, Núñez joined

's Lezama academy in 2007, aged ten. He made his debut as a senior with

the farm team ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...

in the 2015–16 season, in

Tercera División Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segunda División'', and the semi-professional ''Segunda Di ...

. On 7 June 2016, Núñez was promoted to the reserves, freshly relegated to

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Fo ...

. He immediately became a starter for the side, appearing in 33 matches and scoring three goals during

the campaign Campaign or The Campaign may refer to: Types of campaigns * Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beets are harvested and processed *Advertising campaign, a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme *Bli ...

. On 2 June 2017, Núñez was called up to the main squad for the pre-season by new first team manager

José Ángel Ziganda José Ángel 'Cuco' Ziganda Lakunza (born 1 October 1966) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a centre-forward. He is the current manager of SD Huesca. He played 381 La Liga matches over the course of 12 seasons (111 ...

. He made his first team – and

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' ...

– debut on 20 August, starting in a 0–0 home draw against

Getafe CF Getafe Club de Fútbol (), or simply Getafe, is a professional football club based in Getafe, a city in the Community of Madrid. The team competes in La Liga, the highest tier of the Spanish football system. The club's home stadium (owned and op ...

. On 30 October 2017, after already becoming a regular starter, Núñez renewed his contract until 2023, with a €30 million buyout clause. The following 31 March he scored his first goal in the main category, netting the opener in a 1–1 home draw against

RC Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta de Vigo or simply Celta, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues) ...

. After making 36 appearances in 2017–18, Núñez played far less (14 matches) during the 2018–19 season, initially finding himself behind rookie Peru Nolaskoain as well as

Iñigo Martínez Iñigo Martínez Berridi (; ; born 17 May 1991) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for Athletic Bilbao and the Spain national team mainly as a centre-back. He spent most of his professional career with Real Sociedad, playing 238 m ...

and

Yeray Álvarez Yeray Álvarez López (; born 24 January 1995), known simply as Yeray, is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Athletic Bilbao. Club career Born in Barakaldo, Biscay, Basque Country, Yeray joined Athletic Bi ...

in the queue for selection in the position. In November 2020 he signed an extended contract running to 2025, with no buyout clause. During that period he played frequently due to injuries suffered by teammates and when a system with three central defenders was used, but he again found himself to the bench when all were fit and the preferred formation reverted to a central pair; there was even more competition for a place after

Daniel Vivian Daniel Vivian (born 1963) is a British actor of Serbian origin. He works internationally. Biography Early life and career Daniel Vivian began acting with Bosnian film director Pjer Zalica in experimental short films. He later appeared in a ...

also joined the squad. On 16 July 2022, Núñez was loaned to fellow top tier side Celta de Vigo for the season. He featured regularly and impressively for Celta, who took up the option to extend the deal for a second season.

International career

On 25 August 2017, Núñez received his first call-up to the Spain under-21 squad. He was called up to the full side by manager

Robert Moreno Robert Moreno González (born 19 September 1977) is a Spanish football manager. He worked in youth and amateur football before becoming assistant to Luis Enrique at various clubs and the Spain national football team. In 2019, Moreno succeeded ...

on 30 August 2019, for two

UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2019 to November 2020 to determine the 24 UEFA member men's national teams that advanced to the UEFA Euro 2020 final tournament, played across Europ ...

matches against

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

and the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic archipelago, island group and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotlan ...

. He made his debut in the second fixture in Gijon on 8 September, coming on as a late substitute for

Sergio Ramos Sergio Ramos García (; born 30 March 1986) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain and the Spain national team. Known for his aggressive play, he is widely regarded as one of the g ...

with Spain 2–0 ahead; the final result was 4–0. Good club form for Celta Vigo took him back into consideration for selection in March 2023 (this was shortly before to

Robin Le Normand Robin Aimé Robert Le Normand (born 11 November 1996) is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for La Liga club Atlético Madrid. Born in France, he plays for the Spain national team. Le Normand started his professional career in ...

obtained Spanish nationality and became established in the national side). He has also played for the unofficial Basque Country team, making his debut against Costa Rica in November 2020 and scoring the winning goal with a header in the closing minutes.Euskadi gana a Costa Rica en el descuento
asques beat Costa Rica in stoppage time Marca (in Spanish), 16 November 2020

Personal life

Núñez's father Abel was also a footballer and a defender who mainly represented

Barakaldo CF Barakaldo Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team based in Barakaldo, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Founded in 1917 it plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 4, holding home matches at '' Lasesarre'', with a capacity o ...

during his career, having migrated from

Galicia Galicia may refer to: Geographic regions * Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain ** Gallaecia, a Roman province ** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia ** The medieval King ...

to the Basque region when young. His elder brother Asier played in the same position for local

Club Portugalete Club Portugalete is a Spanish football team based in Portugalete, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1909, it plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 4, holding home games at ''Estadio La Florida'', with a capacity of 5, ...

and JD Somorrostro.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Athletic Bilbao *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España or the ''Spanish Super Cup'' is a super cup tournament in Spanish football. Founded in 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2019–20 by four teams: the winners and runners-up of ...

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footb ...

: runner-up 2019–20,

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 ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nunez, Unai 1997 births Living people People from Portugalete Footballers from Biscay Spanish people of Galician descent Spanish men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Spain men's international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Basque Country men's international footballers La Liga players Segunda División B players Tercera División players CD Basconia footballers Athletic Bilbao B footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers RC Celta de Vigo players