David Martinez

Héctor David Martínez Corral was born in Buenos Aires but plays international football for Paraguay, a nationality he took up in 2021 through his mother's side. He has since been capped 11 times for the Paraguayan national team, scoring once, against Venezuela in qualifying for the 2022 World Cup. Before that switch, he had come through Argentina's youth ranks at under-17 level.

Martínez was formed in the River Plate academy and made his first-team debut there in 2018. A loan to Defensa y Justicia in 2019 turned into the making of him: he became a fixture in the side that won the Copa Sudamericana in 2020. He returned to River Plate in 2021 and collected a run of domestic honours there, including the Argentine league title, the Supercopa Argentina and the Trofeo de Campeones, each twice. In January 2022, River paid Defensa y Justicia three million dollars to bring the remainder of his rights back in-house.

That Libertadores campaign also left him with one of the moments people bring up when his name comes up: a shot that came back off the crossbar against Alianza Lima.

A loan to Inter Miami in MLS followed in 2024, where he won the Supporters' Shield, though the three-million-dollar option to make the move permanent was never taken up. From there he moved on loan to Paraguay's Olimpia in 2025. Along the way, his form drew reported interest from clubs in Europe, among them Aston Villa, Milan, Inter and Atlético Madrid.