Diego León Information & Diego León Links at HealthHaven.com

Diego León
	Diego León
Personal information
Full name	Diego León Ayarza
Date of birth	January 16, 1984 (age 25)
Place of birth	Palencia, Spain
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Las Palmas
Number	11
Youth career
2001–2004	Real Madrid
Senior career1
National team2
	1 Senior club appearances and goals; counted for the domestic league only and; correct as of 31 August 2009.; 2 National team caps and goals correct; as of 25 June 2009.; * Appearances (Goals)

For the drug lord, see Diego León Montoya Sánchez.

This is a Spanish name; the first family name is León and the second is Ayarza.

Diego León Ayarza (born 16 January 1984 in Palencia) is a Spanish footballer who currently plays for UD Las Palmas, as a midfielder.

[edit] Football career

A youth product of Real Madrid, León could never appear for more than its B side. He was initially given a squad number with the first team for the 2005–06 season, but moved to Arminia Bielefeld in Germany (first on loan) in January 2005, before he could make his debut for the Spanish giants. He stayed at Arminia until the end of the season, impressing enough to earn a move to Grasshopper-Club Zürich in Switzerland.

On 21 December 2007, it was announced that León had signed a pre-contract agreement with Barnsley FC, with the transfer due to go through at the opening of the transfer window. The Yorkshire club had hoped to make the move official in time for him to play in the FA Cup third-round tie against Blackpool on 5 January 2008, but had to wait until the 9th.^[1] León made his first appearance in a Barnsley shirt that evening, playing in a reserve team match against Sheffield United.

León put in a great performance to earn himself his first matchball as a Barnsley player, with a Man of the Match award against Colchester United on 29 January 2008. He also played a key role in the Reds massive 3–0 win at Watford on 9 April at Vicarage Road, playing a part in all three goals, including a sumptuous flick for Jon Macken to square to Kayode Odejayi to score; his corner allowed Stephen Foster to bullet a header home and his throughball enabled Odejayi to bag his second.

In the following game against Preston North End, León scored a key goal in Barnsley's Championship survival in the 2007–08 season: a 35-yard free kick for the 2–1 triumph.

On 7 May 2009, León was told, along with Dennis Souza, Kyle Letheren and Marciano Van Homoet he would be leaving the club in the coming summer; shortly after he returned to Spain, agreeing a deal with second level side UD Las Palmas.

[edit] References

^ "Diego free to play!!!". barnsleyfc.co.uk. 2008-01-09. http://www.barnsleyfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10309~1210881,00.html. Retrieved 2008-01-10.

[edit] External links

[0] "Diego free to play!!!". barnsleyfc.co.uk. 2008-01-09. http://www.barnsleyfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10309~1210881,00.html. Retrieved 2008-01-10.

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