Diego Valdés (Chilean footballer)

Diego Alfonso Valdés Contreras (born 30 January 1994) is a Chilean footballer who currently plays for Liga MX club Santos Laguna and the Chile national team as an attacking midfielder.

For other people with the same name, see Diego Valdés (disambiguation).
In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Valdés and the second or maternal family name is Contreras.
Diego Valdés
Personal information
Full name Diego Alfonso Valdés Contreras
Date of birth (1994-01-30) 30 January 1994
Place of birth Santiago, Chile
Height 1.79 m (5 ft 10 1⁄2 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Santos Laguna
Number 10
Youth career
2004–2014 Audax Italiano
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2014–2016 Audax Italiano 63 (13)
2016–2018 Morelia 90 (12)
2019– Santos Laguna 63 (11)
National team‡
2013 Chile U20 0 (0)
2015– Chile 13 (1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22 January 2021
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 16 December 2019

Club career

Audax Italiano

He made his professional debut in 2012, in a match against Universidad Católica for the Chilean Primera División.

Morelia

Valdés joined Monarcas Morelia from Audax Italiano on June 14, 2016 on a 2 million dollar move.[1] Valdés made his debut on July 15, 2016 against Club Tijuana losing 2-0.[2]

International career

Valdés was expected to play for the Chile national under-20 football team in the 2013 South American Youth Championship in Argentina. However, he was left out of the team at the last minute by manager Mario Salas.

The team’s performance in Argentina qualified them for a place in the Turkey 2013 under-20 World Cup and when team member Diego Rojas was injured and unable to play, Valdés was selected to take his place.[3]

He got his first call up to the senior Chile squad for a friendly against the United States in January 2015 and made his international debut in the match.[4]

International goals
Scores and results list Chile's goal tally first.[5]
No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.8 June 2018Stadion Miejski, Poznań, Poland Poland1–22–2Friendly

Controversy of Racism

On Sept 10th, 2018, a day before a friendly match between Chile and South Korea, Valdés made with a racist gesture of slanting his eyes with his hands at a fan publicity event.[6] The racist gesture was reported internationally and created furor in Korea resulting in Valdes posting an apology widely seen as inadequate.[7] [8][9] The incident was the second racist incident in Korea from visiting South American teams and drew comparison to Colombian football player Edwin Cardona, who was banned for five games by FIFA in 2017 for a similar gesture.[10][11]

References
  1. "Valdes to Morelia". telemundodeportes.com. Telemundo Deportes. 2016-06-13. Retrieved 2017-09-29.
  2. "Debut with Morelia". sinfoniadegol.com. Serigo Ramirez. 2016-03-13. Retrieved 2017-09-29.
  3. Otra baja por lesión para la Sub 20: Diego Rojas quedó descartado para el Mundial www.emol.com June 11, 2013 retrieved June 21, 2013
  4. "Chile boss Jorge Sampaoli names home-based squad for USA friendly". ca2015.com. 21 January 2015. Archived from the original on 19 November 2015. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  5. "Valdés, Diego". National Football Teams. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  6. "Chile international Valdes apologizes for derogatory gesture". washingtonpost.com. John Duerden. 2018-09-11. Retrieved 2018-09-12.
  7. "Tottenham's Heung-Min Son makes a fool of 'racist' Chilean midfielder Diego Valdes". 101greatgoals.com. 2018-09-11. Retrieved 2018-09-12.
  8. "Chile footballer Diego Valdes apologises for 'racist' gesture posing with South Korean fan ahead of international friendly". scmp.com.com. 2018-09-11. Retrieved 2018-09-12.
  9. "Diego Valdes Makes Half-Assed Apology For Racist Gesture, But Justice Is Served By Son Heung-min". the18.com. the18. 2018-09-11. Retrieved 2018-09-12.
  10. "Chile international Diego Valdes forced to apologise after making 'racist' gesture towards South Korea fan". mirror.co.uk. Mirror. 2018-09-11. Retrieved 2018-09-12.
  11. "Chile's Diego Valdes apologises for eye gesture ahead of South Korea match". espn.com. ESPN. 2018-09-11. Retrieved 2018-09-12.
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