Diego León

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Diego León
Personal information
Full name	Diego León Ayarza
Date of birth	January 16, 1984 (1984-01-16) (age 24)
Place of birth	Palencia, Spain
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Barnsley
Number	29
Youth clubs
2001-2004	Real Madrid
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2004 2004–2006 2005-2006 2006–2007 2008–	Real Madrid B Real Madrid → Arminia Bielefeld (loan) Grasshopper Barnsley	00 (0) 00 (0) 14 (1) 30 (3) 015 (1)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 11:14, 10 February 2008 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Diego León Ayarza (born 16 January 1984) is a Spanish footballer who currently plays as a midfielder for Barnsley.

León began his career with the Real Madrid youth team, working his way up the ranks. He was given a squad number with the first team for the 2005–06 season, but moved to Arminia Bielefeld in Germany, initially on loan in January 2005, before he could make his debut for the Spanish giants. He stayed at Arminia Bielefeld until the end of the season, impressing enough to earn a move to Grasshopper Zürich for the 2006–07 season.

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 instead they had to wait until 9 January.^[1] León made his first appearance in a Barnsley shirt that evening, playing in a reserve team match against Sheffield United Reserves.

León put in a great performance to earn himself his first matchball in the red of Barnsley with a Man of the Match award against Colchester United on 29 January 2008.

Diego played a key role in the Reds massive 3-0 win at Watford on 9 April 2008 at Vicarage Road, playing a part in all three goals, including a sumptuous flick for Jon Macken to square to Kayode Odejayi to score. His corner allowed Stephen Foster to bullet a header home and his throughball enabled Odejayi to bag his second.

Diego then scored a key goal in Barnsley's Championship survival in the 2007/08 season scoring a 35 yard belter from a free kick, Barnsley then went to win the game 2-1.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Diego León profile at barnsleyfc.co.uk
• Diego León career stats at Soccerbase

v • d • e Barnsley F.C. – current squad 2 Hassell • 5 Kozluk • 6 Johnson • 7 Togwell • 8 Mostto • 9 Odejayi • 10 Howard • 12 Atkinson • 13 Ferenczi • 14 Christensen • 15 Anderson • 16 Foster • 18 Souza • 19 Butterfield • 20 Campbell-Ryce • 21 Macken • 22 Müller • 23 Van Homoet • 24 Coulson • 25 Devaney • 29 León • 30 Letheren • 31 Steele • 35 Meynell • 37 Mattis • 38 Potter • Manager: Davey

He visited holgate school sports college on the 22nd of April 2008 to talk to year 11 as year 7 class watch for the spanish lesson! However, most people that saw him don't do spanish for GCSE!!