Carlos Alberto Villanueva Fuentes

When Union La Calera announced its tenth signing for the 2026 season, the name went by without much fuss: Carlos Villanueva had already spent a decade in Chilean football by the time he arrived, and none of it at a club outside the country's traditional powers. He came up through Colo-Colo's academy and made his first-team debut in 2016, staying with the club through two league titles, in 2017 and 2022.

What stands out from his time at Huachipato, where he joined as a free agent in January 2023, is the finish rather than the arrival: after winning the league that year, he scored the goal that settled the 2025 Copa Chile final. It is the kind of moment that tends to outlast a transfer fee nobody ever disclosed.

He moved on again as a free agent, joining Union La Calera in January 2026, number 14 on his back. A right-footed midfielder built at 183cm, he arrives with two league titles and a cup-winning goal already behind him, and a new dressing room to convince.