Luis Javier Paradela Díaz

Luis Paradela made his mark on Cuban football before he had turned professional abroad: on his competitive debut for Cuba, in an 11–0 win over Turks and Caicos, he scored a hat-trick. He won his first cap in August 2018 and has since built up 41 appearances and 11 goals for the national side, and was named to the Best XI of the 2019–20 CONCACAF Nations League qualifying round.

His path to that point ran through Matanzas, his home club, before a move to Guatemala with Universidad de San Carlos and a loan spell in the United States with Reno 1868 FC. Two seasons in El Salvador, with Jocoro and Chalatenango, preceded a switch to Costa Rica, where his career took off. At Santos de Guápiles he scored 12 goals in 46 appearances, form that took him to Deportivo Saprissa in 2022.

Saprissa is where Paradela became a title winner. He won four consecutive Costa Rican Primera División championships there, plus the Supercopa de Costa Rica, and was named Best Player and Best Foreign Player of the Clausura 2024 tournament.

That form earned him a move to Europe in June 2024, on loan to Universitatea Craiova. Craiova paid a €250,000 buyout clause to sign him permanently in December 2024, but the move was overshadowed almost immediately: that same month, Paradela ruptured his cruciate ligament. His loan was extended to allow for his recovery, and he returned to Saprissa once it ended.