José Rodríguez Martínez Spanish Footballer From Villajoyosa

José Rodríguez Martínez is a Spanish footballer who plays as a midfielder. He was born on 16 December 1994 in Villajoyosa, in the province of Alicante, and came through the youth system of Real Madrid before building a career across Spain, Turkey, Germany, Israel and Belgium.

Early life

Rodríguez grew up in the Valencian Community and played for three youth clubs before joining Real Madrid at fourteen. He represented Spain at under-17 level in 2010 and was part of the under-19 and under-20 sides in 2013. He later played for the under-21 team as well.

Career

His senior debut came with Real Madrid Castilla, the club's reserve side, who played in the Segunda División at the time. On 30 October 2012 he was called into the first-team squad for a Copa del Rey tie with Alcoyano, coming on at half-time and scoring the third goal in a 4–1 away win. His La Liga debut came on 1 December 2012, in the final minute of a 2–0 win over Atlético Madrid. Three days later he replaced Kaká in a Champions League group match against Ajax, aged 17 years and 354 days, which made him the youngest player to appear for Real Madrid in that competition. In 2013–14 he made 37 appearances for Castilla and scored four goals, though the team were relegated to Segunda División B.

In July 2014 he joined Deportivo de La Coruña on a season-long loan. He played 27 competitive matches and scored his first top-flight goals in home draws against Rayo Vallecano and Granada, as Deportivo narrowly avoided relegation.

Galatasaray signed him in the summer of 2015 on a four-year contract. He made his Süper Lig debut on 24 August, starting in a 2–1 defeat to Osmanlıspor, and the club won the Turkish Cup in 2015–16. On 29 June 2016 he moved to the Bundesliga side 1. FSV Mainz 05 on a four-year deal. His Bundesliga debut ended early, as he was sent off five minutes in after a challenge on Dominik Kohr of Augsburg.

Mainz then sent him out on loan three times: to Málaga at the end of January 2017, to the Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv, with whom he won the Toto Cup in 2017–18, and to Fortuna Sittard in the Eredivisie from August 2018. On 18 August 2019 he signed a three-year contract with Málaga. Because of the club's financial difficulties he was not registered for the first half of that season and was loaned to Fuenlabrada on 30 January 2020.

He returned to Israel on 10 September 2020, signing for Maccabi Haifa. On 3 March 2021 he scored the winning goal, a long-range volley, in a 2–1 victory over Hapoel Tel Aviv that drew praise from Israeli and Spanish media. With Haifa he won the Israeli Premier League in 2020–21 and 2021–22, along with the Toto Cup and the Israel Super Cup in 2021–22 and 2021 respectively. In summer 2022 he joined Royal Union Saint-Gilloise in Belgium and left by mutual consent on 15 February 2023.

Recognition

Rodríguez has won club honours in three countries. In Turkey he collected the Turkish Cup with Galatasaray (2015–16). In Israel his list includes the Toto Cup with Maccabi Tel Aviv (2017–18) and, with Maccabi Haifa, two league titles, the Toto Cup and the Super Cup.

At international youth level he captained Spain at the 2013 UEFA European Under-19 Championship in Lithuania. In the semi-final against France he scored a penalty to open the scoring, but Spain lost 2–1 after extra time.