Jesé Rodríguez · Biography

Jesé Rodríguez Ruiz made his Real Madrid first-team debut on 13 December 2011, in the first leg of a Copa del Rey round-of-32 tie away to SD Ponferradina. José Mourinho sent him on in the 77th minute of a 2-0 win. A forward born on 26 February 1993 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, he went on to play in Spain, France, England, Portugal, Turkey, Italy, Brazil and Malaysia before returning to UD Las Palmas in 2025.

Youth football in Gran Canaria and Madrid

He started out at AD Huracán, a youth club in Gran Canaria, and in 2007, aged fourteen, he joined Real Madrid’s academy. After scoring 18 goals for the club’s under-19 side, he moved up to Real Madrid Castilla for the 2010-11 season. His first league appearance for the senior team came on 24 March 2012 in a 5-1 win over Real Sociedad, making him part of Mourinho’s 2011-12 La Liga title-winning squad.

The 2012-13 season established him with the reserve team. In the Spanish second division he scored 22 goals in 38 matches, the most Castilla had ever scored in a single league season, and won the Trofeo Zarra as the division’s top Spanish scorer.

Real Madrid’s first team and the injury

Under Carlo Ancelotti he became part of the first-team rotation in 2013-14. His first league goal came on 26 October 2013 at the Camp Nou, an injury-time strike in a 2-1 defeat to Barcelona, set up by Cristiano Ronaldo. On 18 March 2014, in a Champions League match against Schalke 04 at the Santiago Bernabéu, he ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee after a challenge from Sead Kolašinac. That season the club won the Copa del Rey and the Champions League.

He returned on 2 December 2014 in a cup match against UE Cornellà. He was part of the squads that won the UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Cup in 2014, and of the side that lifted the 2016 Champions League in Milan, a final he spent on the bench without coming on.

Paris and a string of loans

On 8 August 2016 Paris Saint-Germain signed him for 25 million euros. He struggled for minutes in Paris and in January 2017 went back on loan to UD Las Palmas, scoring 3 goals in 16 league games. In August 2017 he joined Stoke City on loan in the Premier League; the deal ended on 1 May 2018 after 13 appearances and one goal.

In January 2019 he moved on loan to Real Betis, playing 14 league games and scoring twice, the first on 10 March against Celta. In September 2019 he left for Sporting CP, where he made 12 Primeira Liga appearances and scored once. Before that loan he had played one minute for PSG at Metz, which earned him a share of the 2019-20 Ligue 1 title. The French club announced the termination of his contract on 6 December 2020.

Back home and years on the road

On 1 February 2021 he returned to UD Las Palmas, then in the Spanish second division. He signed an extension in July that year and in 2021-22 played 41 league games, scoring 11 goals. In the summer of 2022 he joined Turkish club MKE Ankaragücü, leaving in January 2023 to sign for Sampdoria in Serie A on 10 February that year.

On 6 September 2023 he joined Brazilian side Coritiba, scoring once in six games in a season that ended in relegation. After some ten months without a club, in October 2024 he signed for Johor Darul Ta’zim in Malaysia, winning the 2024-25 Malaysia Super League and the Malaysia Cup.

Spain youth teams

He represented Spain at youth level. With the under-17s he finished runner-up at the 2010 European Championship in Liechtenstein. With the under-19s he won the 2012 European Championship in Estonia, scoring five goals as the tournament’s top scorer. At the 2013 Under-20 World Cup in Turkey he again scored five and took the Bronze Boot, though Spain went out in the quarter-finals. He made his under-21 debut on 5 September 2013 against Austria. The 2014 injury halted a possible call-up to the senior team, for which he never played.

Third spell at Las Palmas

On 24 July 2025 he returned for a third time to UD Las Palmas, newly relegated to the Spanish second division, to play the 2025-26 season with his hometown club.