Former players from Real Madrid, Arsenal and Marseille are among currently turning out in the Spanish Segunda division that the world of football has largely forgotten about.
There are some big clubs currently competing in the division, former mainstays of La Liga like Malaga, Levante, Deportivo La Coruna and Sporting Gijon.
Here are six players from the Spanish second tier that we’ve not thought about in a long while.
Sergio Arribas
. He was regarded as one of the most talented and promising starlets at La Fabrica a few years back, and many youth scouts believed he had what it takes to make it into Los Blancos’ first team.
Senior appearances did arrive. He represented his boyhood club 14 times from 2020 until 2023, and memorably scored his only goal for the club just 28 seconds after being introduced in a Club World Cup victory over Al Ahly.
But he never made it beyond the fringes of Carlo Ancelotti’s first team and left for Almeria in the summer of 2023. The rising star enjoyed a decent debut campaign there, notching nine goals and four assists for a side doomed to relegation.
He’s fallen off the radar now that they’re in the second tier, but he may be back in La Liga soon. Almeria are currently top of the Segunda and look well-placed to bounce straight back.
Luis Suarez
No, not that one. He’s still out in Miami.
Partly thanks to his more famous namesake, Colombian striker Suarez was tipped for big things with stints at Watford, Granada and Marseille since arriving in Europe eight years ago.
After impressing on loan from Marseille, Suarez joined Arribas at Almeria on a permanent deal in 2023. But he only scored six La Liga goals in their relegation campaign.
He’s enjoying a much better time of it this season, having notched 17 goals in just 22 Segunda appearances at the time of writing. Expect to see him in the Spanish top flight again soon.
Lucas Boye
) small role in Argentina’s World Cup triumph of 2022, having played two minutes as a late substitute in a qualifier for Qatar, a routine 3-0 win over Venezuela.
That’s the extent of the striker’s international career, and you imagine he won’t be getting a second call-up given that not once has he hit double figures for goals in a season, having represented the likes of Torino, Celta Vigo, Reading, Elche and Granada since leaving River Plate in 2016.
He scored just six La Liga goals for Granada in his debut season at the club as they finished rock bottom of the table. He’s not faring much better in 2024-25, with just three goals for a Granada side that are sitting just outside the play-off spots.
Charlie Patino
There was a point in the not-too-distant past that Patino could be filed alongside the likes of Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly, a prodigiously talented Hale End prospect who looked destined to make it in Mikel Arteta’s first team.
out on loan at Blackpool and Swansea but never quite blossomed into the world-beater many had expected.
In the summer he took the leftfield, romantic choice of signing for the club he’d grown up supporting, fallen giants Deportivo La Coruna, newly promoted to the Spanish second tier.
Unfortunately the 21-year-old hasn’t quite kicked on as expected just yet. He’s largely been left on the bench and made just three appearances totally 63 minutes so far this season.
Reinier
Back in January 2020, Real Madrid announced the signing of highly-rated Brazilian teenager Reinier Jesus from Flamengo. But those hoping that they’ve struck gold with another Vinicius Junior or Rodrygo will find themselves increasingly disappointed with each passing underwhelming loan.
The attacking midfielder is yet to play for his parent club and at this point we doubt a debut will ever arrive. Having failed to catch the eye at Borussia Dortmund, Girona or Frosinone, Reinier dropped down to the Segunda to play for Granada on loan for the 2024-25 campaign.
But like Boye, he’s not pulling up any trees at Los Carmenes. He’s notched just one goal and two assists from 18 appearances in the second tier.
Luca Zidane
Now we’re going back a bit.
We’ll see how the career of Real Betis’ 19-year-old centre-back Elyaz Zidane, currently in the Real Betis academy, develops. But at this point it’s probably fair to say that Luca is the best of Zizou’s footballing sons, given that Enzo has left the game entirely and Theo has spent his entire career in the lower reaches of the Spanish footballing pyramid.
The goalkeeper made two La Liga appearances for Los Blancos and was part of France’s Under-17 European Championship-winning squad back in 2015. He’s since made a handful of appearances in the top flight at Rayo Vallecano and enjoyed a respectable – if not spectacular – career to date.
After two seasons in the Segunda with former La Liga upstarts Eibar, Zidane joined Reinier and Boye at Granada in the summer. Only recent has he got a run between the sticks.
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