Diego León - Football Career

Football Career

A youth product of Real Madrid, León could never appear for more than its B side. He was initially given a squad number with the first team for the 2005–06 season, but moved to Arminia Bielefeld in Germany (first on loan) in January 2005, before he could make his debut for the Spanish giants; he stayed at Arminia until the end of the season, impressing enough to earn a move to Grasshopper Club Zürich in Switzerland.

On 21 December 2007, it was announced that León had signed a pre-contract agreement with Barnsley, with the transfer due to go through at the opening of the transfer window. The Yorkshire club had hoped to make the move official in time for him to play in the FA Cup third-round tie against Blackpool on 5 January 2008, but had to wait until the 9th: he made his first appearance that evening, playing in a reserve team match against Sheffield United.

León put in a great performance to earn himself his first matchball as a Barnsley player, with a Man of the match award against Colchester United on 29 January 2008. He also played a key role in the Reds 3–0 win at Watford on 9 April, being involved in all three goals, including a sumptuous flick for Jon Macken to square to Kayode Odejayi to score; his corner allowed Stephen Foster to head home and his throughball enabled Odejayi to score his second.

In the following game against Preston North End, León netted a key goal in Barnsley's Championship survival in the 2007–08 season, scoring from a 35-yard free kick for the 2–1 triumph. On 7 May 2009, however, he was told, along with Dennis Souza, Kyle Letheren and Marciano van Homoet he would be leaving the club in the coming summer; shortly after he returned to his country, agreeing a deal with second level side UD Las Palmas.

On 13 December 2010 León moved teams – and countries – again, signing with lowly SV Wacker Burghausen in Germany. In June of the following year, after a failed move to HNK Hajduk Split, he joined Nea Salamis Famagusta FC in Cyprus.