Emilio Nsue López (born 30 September 1989) is a professional footballer who plays for APOEL of the Cypriot First Division. A versatile player, he can operate as a right back, winger and forward.
He began his career at Mallorca, where he appeared in 153 competitive games and four La Liga seasons, also spending time on loan at Real Sociedad and Castellón.
Nsue represented Spain at youth level, winning European championships in 2007 and in 2011. In 2013 he made his senior international debut for Equatorial Guinea, and two years later represented the nation at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.
Nsue was born in Palma, Majorca, Balearic Islands. An RCD Mallorca youth graduate, he made his professional debut for the club on 3 February 2008, playing injury time in a 1–1 draw at Villarreal CF. He added five more minutes the following week, in a goalless home draw against UD Almería.
For 2008–09, Nsue was loaned to CD Castellón in the second division. Regularly used in a comfortable campaign for the Valencians, he scored twice in a home game against Levante UD on 18 October 2008 (4–1).
On 17 July 2009 Nsue was loaned to Real Sociedad, on a season-long move. Although rarely a starter, he was an important offensive unit as the Basque side ultimately returned to La Liga after a three-year absence.
Nsue returned to Mallorca for 2010–11 and begun the season in the starting XI, the first match being a 0–0 home draw against Real Madrid. On 3 October 2010 he scored his first official goal for the club, heading in from a corner at FC Barcelona in an eventual 1–1 draw; he appeared in all 38 league games and netted four times, with his team narrowly avoiding relegation.
In 2011–12 Nsue played in several matches as an attacking right back, and totalled nearly 2,000 minutes of action (20 starts) to help Mallorca rank eighth. After conversations with manager Joaquín Caparrós during pre-season, it was agreed that he would start the following campaign in that position.
On 1 August 2014, Nsue joined English Football League Championship club Middlesbrough, signing a three-year contract as a free agent – he was signed by Aitor Karanka, who knew him from the Spanish youth set-up. Eight days later he made his official debut, coming on as a substitute for Albert Adomah for the last 23 minutes of a 2–0 win over Birmingham City at the Riverside Stadium. On 12 August he made his first start, playing the entire 3–0 success at Oldham Athletic in the first round of the League Cup.
Boro reached the play-off final at Wembley Stadium on 25 May 2015, a 0–2 defeat to Norwich City where Nsue played the second half in place of Dean Whitehead after both goals had already been conceded. Despite Karanka's insistence that the player would only be put in defence as an emergency procedure, he played much of his second season at right back. On 28 November 2015, he scored his first goal in English football, concluding a 2–0 win at Huddersfield Town; on 15 December, he netted the only goal of a home win over Burnley, putting his team into first place.
2008-2014 |
2014-2017 |
2017-2018 |