Valentín Vada (; born 6 March 1996) is an Argentine 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Career

Vada's move to France was controversial. In 2010 at the age of 14 as a minor, his arrival from a non-EU country was against the laws governing the movement of underage players. Italian heritage ameliorated those concerns eventually, but Vada was unable to play in any competitive matches, even for the “B” team until he turned 17. Vada made his

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

debut on 13 December 2015 against

Angers SCO Angers Sporting Club de l'Ouest, commonly referred to as Angers SCO (), is a French professional football club based in Angers in Pays de la Loire in western France. The club was founded in 1919 and plays in Ligue 1, the first division of Foot ...

replacing

Nicolas Maurice-Belay Nicolas Maurice-Belay (born 19 April 1985) is a French former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He spent most of his career with Sochaux and Bordeaux. Career Maurice-Belay was born in Sucy-en-Brie, Val-de-Marne. He joined the ...

after 79 minutes. He scored his first professional goals on 8 April 2017, netting a brace in a 3–0 home defeat of

FC Metz Football Club de Metz () is a Football in France, French association football club based in Metz, Lorraine. The club was formed in 1932 and plays in Ligue 1, the highest division in the French football league system, for the 2025–26 Ligue 1, ...

. On 31 January 2019, the last day of the 2018–19 winter transfer window, Vada joined Bordeaux's league rivals

AS Saint-Étienne Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire (), abbreviated as A.S.S.E. () and commonly known as Saint-Étienne, is a French professional football club based in Saint-Étienne, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The club was founded in 1933 and competes ...

on loan until the end of the season. On 23 August, he agreed to a five-year contract with

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

UD Almería Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' until 2001 ...

. On 4 October 2020, despite being a regular starter for 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, Vada was loaned to fellow second division side

CD Tenerife Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1922, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez L� ...

for the 2020–21 season. On 31 August 2021, he terminated his contract with Almería, and signed a two-year deal with

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

in the same category just hours later. On 14 September 2023, Vada signed a two-year contract with

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

club

Rubin Kazan FC Rubin Kazan (; ) is a Russian professional football club based in the city of Kazan. They play in the Russian Premier League. Founded in 1958, Rubin played its first-ever top flight season in 2003. It has remained there through the 2021–2 ...

Career statistics

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vada, Valentin 1996 births Living people Men's association football midfielders Argentine men's footballers Argentine sportspeople of Italian descent Ligue 1 players Championnat National 2 players FC Girondins de Bordeaux players AS Saint-Étienne players Segunda División players Russian Premier League players UD Almería players CD Tenerife players Real Zaragoza players FC Rubin Kazan players Argentine expatriate men's footballers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in France Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Footballers from Santa Fe, Argentina 21st-century Argentine sportsmen