Carlos Salcedo

Carlos Joel Salcedo Hernández (born 29 September 1993), also known as El Titán, is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Liga MX club Cruz Azul.

Salcedo began his youth career at Guadalajara in 2006 and moved to Tigres UANL and then Real Salt Lake, where he started his professional career in 2013.

Having previously played at C.D. Guadalajara's and Tigres UANL's youth academy teams, Salcedo joined Major League Soccer (MLS) club Real Salt Lake's academy in January 2012.

In August of the same year he began training with the first-team squad.

Salcedo signed a home grown player contract with Salt Lake in January 2013, having met the minimum requirement to be defined as "home grown" of one year academy training.

On 4 May 2013, Salcedo made his professional MLS debut for Real Salt Lake as a substitute against Vancouver Whitecaps, ending in a 2–0 win entering as a substitute in the 89th minute.

In the second half of the 2013 season he was a regular starter for Salt Lake starting 12 games by season's end.

Following a lack of playing time in the 2014 season with Real Salt Lake, in November 2014, Salcedo took to Twitter asking the team not to bring him into future team plans, citing issues with former general manager Garth Lagerwey.

He would return to Guadalajara in 2015, and the following year made his move abroad with loan spells at Fiorentina and Eintracht Frankfurt, making a permanent move with the latter in 2018.

A Mexican international since 2015, Salcedo has represented Mexico at the 2015 Copa América and Copa América Centenario, the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup, the 2016 Summer Olympics, the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, and the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

On 6 January 2015, Salcedo returned to Mexican side C.D. Guadalajara, for the price of $450,000.

Salcedo made his debut for the club in a 2–1 win at home against Pumas UNAM in which he played the first 60 minutes.

On 1 March, Salcedo scored his first goal in a 3–0 win at home against Monterrey in which he played the full 90 minutes.

At the end of his first tournament with Chivas, he was listed in the Best XI.

The following season, he would win the Apertura 2015 Copa MX with Guadalajara, defeating Club León 1–0, qualifying them to the 2016 Supercopa MX, where they would also go on to win, defeating Veracruz 2–0.

On 21 August 2016, Italian club ACF Fiorentina announced they had acquired Salcedo on loan, with the option to purchase the player at the end of the deal.

Salcedo made his debut with Fiorentina on 15 September against PAOK in their 0–0 draw in the Europa League.

He made his Serie A debut ten days later against Milan in a 0–0 draw.

On 13 June 2017, Salcedo joined German side Eintracht Frankfurt on an initial loan from Guadalajara with an option to buy.

Following a shoulder injury sustained at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, Salcedo's Bundesliga debut came on 9 September against Borussia Mönchengladbach which ended in a 1–0 win for Eintracht Frankfurt, playing the entirety of the match.

In April 2018, Salcedo was listed as one of three center-backs nominated for the Bundesliga Team of the Season, alongside Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng.

On 14 May, Eintracht Frankfurt announced they had signed Salcedo to a four-year contract, tying him to the club until 2022.

On 19 May, Salcedo won the DFB-Pokal with Eintracht Frankfurt after they defeated Bayern Munich 3–1 in the final.

On 12 August 2018, Salcedo played in his first competitive game of the season in Frankfurt's 5–0 loss to Bayern Munich for the DFL-Supercup.

On 1 September, during a league match against Werder Bremen, which Frankfurt lost 2–1, Salcedo suffered a high ankle sprain, meaning he would be ruled out of action for an undetermined amount of time.

On 2 December, he reappeared as an unused substitute in Frankfurt's 2–1 loss to Wolfsburg.

Six days later, he made his return to the starting eleven in Frankfurt's 1–0 loss to Hertha Berlin.

In January 2019, he returned to Mexico to join Tigres UANL helping them win the 2019 Clausura and the 2020 CONCACAF Champions League.

In 2022, he returns to the Major League Soccer to join Toronto.

That same year he returns to Mexico to join Juárez.

On 22 January 2019, amidst much speculation, Tigres UANL announced via social media the signing of Salcedo to a four-year contract, being handed the number 3 which had previously been worn by Juninho, who had retired at the conclusion of the 2018 Apertura.

He had cited family issues as the main reason for returning to Mexico.

Salcedo also revealed that he did not return to C.D. Guadalajara because the team was only looking to acquire him on loan from Frankfurt, an offer which was declined by the German side.

Two weeks after being officially presented with Tigres, Salcedo made his Liga MX debut in a 2–0 victory against Veracruz.

On 12 March, in the second leg of the 2019 CONCACAF Champions League quarter-finals against MLS side Houston Dynamo, Salcedo scored his first goal with Tigres in a 1–0 victory.

Four days later, he scored his first league goal with Tigres in a 4–1 victory over Querétaro.

Despite Tigres finishing runners-up in the CONCACAF Champions League Finals to city rivals C.F. Monterrey, Salcedo was included in the competition's Best XI.

The following month, on 26 May, Salcedo won the Clausura championship with Tigres after defeating León 1–0 on aggregate in the finals.

On 22 December 2020, Tigres won the CONCACAF Champions League after defeating MLS side Los Angeles FC 2–1.

On 31 January 2022, Salcedo returned to MLS, signing with Toronto FC as a Designated Player.