Saúl Ñíguez Esclapez

Saúl Ñíguez came through the youth ranks at Real Madrid before switching to Atlético Madrid's academy, where he completed his development and broke into the first team. He would go on to spend more than a decade at Atlético, forming part of the side built under Diego Simeone and rejecting moves to both Barcelona and Real Madrid in favour of staying and extending his contract there.

A loan spell at Rayo Vallecano gave him regular first-team football early in his career. The lasting mark of his time at Atlético came with the domestic league title, alongside a Copa del Rey, a Spanish Super Cup, two UEFA Europa League triumphs and a UEFA Super Cup. In February 2015, he suffered a serious kidney injury in a Champions League match against Bayer Leverkusen that caused internal bleeding; he played with a catheter inside his body for two years afterwards.

He later joined Chelsea on loan, winning the Club World Cup during that spell, before a loan move to Sevilla. With Spain, Saúl won 19 caps and scored three goals, having made his senior debut in a Nations League match against England. He was named in Spain's 2018 World Cup squad without featuring in the tournament. At youth level, he was a European champion at Under-19 level, and finished as top scorer as Spain took silver at the Under-21 Euros.

He left Atlético Madrid after his contract was terminated in 2025, moving to Flamengo as a free agent, and later joined Sevilla.