Juan Villar · Biography

Juan Villar Vázquez was born on 19 May 1988 in Cortegana, in the hills of the province of Huelva, and came through the youth system at Recreativo de Huelva. He is a 1.82-metre forward who could also play out wide. He spent most of his career in the Spanish second division, with spells at Cádiz, Real Valladolid, Tenerife, Osasuna, Rayo Vallecano, UD Almería and SD Huesca. He won the second-division title twice, with Osasuna in 2019 and with Almería in 2022.

Recreativo academy and a loan at Lepe

He moved up to Atlético Onubense, Recreativo’s reserve side, in 2007. On 31 August 2008 he made his La Liga debut, playing the last two minutes of a 1-0 away win over Real Betis. His only other appearance that season came on matchday 38, when Recreativo were relegated. To get more playing time he went on loan to San Roque de Lepe in the Spanish third tier for 2009-10. He scored ten goals in thirty league games there, three of them in a 6-2 win away to Jerez Industrial on 9 May 2010. Back in Huelva, he scored his first professional goal on 2 March 2011 in a 1-1 draw at Las Palmas. He left Recreativo in 2012 with 66 league appearances and 8 goals.

Scoring goals for Cádiz

On 23 July 2012 he joined Cádiz, who were in the third tier at the time. He scored ten goals in his first season. In 2013-14 he reached 18 goals, the best total of his career, and he added 12 more in 2014-15. Cádiz reached the promotion play-offs in both of those seasons but did not go up. He left the Ramón de Carranza in 2015 with 108 league appearances and 41 goals.

Real Valladolid and Tenerife

On 2 July 2015 he became Real Valladolid’s first signing of the summer, in the Spanish second division. He was named the division’s Player of the Month for December 2015. On 12 March 2016 he scored his first professional hat-trick in a 3-2 win away to Real Oviedo. In two seasons at Valladolid he played 70 league games and scored 25 goals. On 29 June 2017 he signed for CD Tenerife. In 2017-18 he scored nine league goals in a season disrupted by injuries.

Promotion and a title with Osasuna

Osasuna signed him on 27 July 2018 for €850,000 plus add-ons. In 2018-19 he scored 12 goals, the same number as Roberto Torres, and the two finished as the team’s joint top scorers. Osasuna won the second division and returned to La Liga. His only top-flight goal for the club was a penalty in a 4-2 home win over Deportivo Alavés at El Sadar on 3 November 2019. In February 2020 he went on loan to Rayo Vallecano for the rest of the season. He scored seven goals in about four months there, and the Madrid side narrowly missed out on the play-offs.

Almería, Huesca and a return to Huelva

On 11 September 2020 he joined UD Almería for €400,000 plus add-ons. In 2021-22 he made 12 appearances as the Andalusian club won the second division and were promoted to La Liga. He left in July 2022 with 39 league appearances and three goals. On 5 August 2022 he signed for SD Huesca, who loaned him to Córdoba CF on 31 January 2023 until the end of the season. In June 2023 he left Huesca by mutual agreement, and in August of that year he went back to Recreativo.

Back at San Roque and honours

On 1 February 2024 he went back to San Roque de Lepe, by then in the Segunda Federación, fourteen years after his loan spell there. By 2024 he had played 446 league games and scored 130 league goals across all divisions. His honours are two Spanish second-division titles, with Osasuna in 2018-19 and with Almería in 2021-22, and the division’s Player of the Month award for December 2015.