Matías Nahuel


Matías Nahuel Leiva Esquivel, known as Nahuel, is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for CD Tenerife as a right winger.

Club career

Villarreal

Born in Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina, Nahuel moved to Spain at only 14, joining Villarreal CF's youth setup. He made his senior debut with the C-side in 2012–13, in Tercera División, and also appeared occasionally for the reserves during that first season.
Nahuel made his first-team – and La Liga – debut on 13 January 2014, playing 23 minutes in a 5–1 home routing of Real Sociedad. On 28 August he scored his first professional goal, netting the last in a 4–0 home win against FC Astana for the campaign's UEFA Europa League.
On 16 June 2016, Nahuel signed a two-year loan contract with Real Betis also of the top tier. On 30 January 2018, he was loaned to Segunda División team FC Barcelona B for six months.

Olympiacos

On 31 August 2018, the last day of the summer transfer window, Olympiacos F.C. signed Nahuel for an undisclosed fee – Villarreal retained a buyback option on the player. The following 31 January, after being rarely used, he returned to Spain after agreeing to a six-month loan deal with Deportivo de La Coruña of the second division.

Tenerife

On 30 August 2019, Nahuel joined CD Tenerife on a three-year contract.

International career

Nahuel was part of the Spanish under-19 team which won the 2015 UEFA European Championship in Greece. He scored in a 3–0 group stage opening victory against holders Germany, adding the second goal in the 2–0 win over Russia in the decisive match in Katerini.

Honours

Spain U19