Diego Valdés (Chilean footballer)
Diego Alfonso Valdés Contreras is a Chilean footballer who currently plays for Mexican club Santos Laguna as an attacking midfielder.
Club career
Audax Italiano
He made his professional debut in 2012, in a match against Universidad Católica for the Chilean Primera División.Morelia
Valdés joined Monarcas Morelia from Audax Italiano on June 14, 2016 on a 2 million dollar move. Valdés made his debut on July 15, 2016 against Club Tijuana losing 2-0.International career
Valdés was expected to play for the Chile national under-20 football team in the 2013 South American Youth Championship in Argentina. However, he was left out of the team at the last minute by manager Mario Salas.The team’s performance in Argentina qualified them for a place in the Turkey 2013 under-20 World Cup and when team member Diego Rojas was injured and unable to play, Valdés was selected to take his place.
He got his first call up to the senior Chile squad for a friendly against the United States in January 2015 and made his international debut in the match.
International goals
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
| 1. | 8 June 2018 | Stadion Miejski, Poznań, Poland | 1–2 | 2–2 | Friendly |
Controversy of Racism
On Sept 10th, 2018, a day before a friendly match between Chile and South Korea, Valdés made with a racist gesture of slanting his eyes with his hands at a fan publicity event. The racist gesture was reported internationally and created furor in Korea resulting in Valdes posting an apology widely seen as inadequate.The incident was the second racist incident in Korea from visiting South American teams and drew comparison to Colombian football player Edwin Cardona, who was banned for five games by FIFA in 2017 for a similar gesture.