Pedro Matías

Pedro Manuel Miguel Matías (born 11 October 1973) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as an attacking midfielder.

He spent the vast majority of his professional career in England, representing six clubs, mainly Walsall for which he appeared in 162 competitive matches and scored 27 goals.

Club career Born in Madrid, Matías was an unsuccessful Real Madrid youth graduate, only playing for its reserves for three seasons, two of those in the Segunda División. For 1996–97 he was released but stayed in that level, appearing regularly and being relegated with Almería.

After a couple of months with Logroñés also in the second tier, Matías left his homeland, going on to spend the following decade in the English Football League with six teams: Macclesfield Town, Tranmere Rovers, Walsall – by far his biggest spell with any club in the country, five seasons – Blackpool (where he scored once against Brighton & Hove Albion), Bristol Rovers and Kidderminster Harriers (netting against Grimsby Town). On 24 March 2001, whilst playing for the Saddlers, he scored a hat-trick in a 5–1 home win over Wycombe Wanderers, being crucial to the club's promotion; the following campaign he also figured prominently as Walsall finished 18th and out of the relegation zone, notably scoring twice in a 3–2 home defeat of Rotherham United.

Matías returned to Spain in 2005 aged 31, citing personal reasons, signing with lowly Gimnástica Segoviana of Tercera División and helping the Castile and León side to win their group albeit without a final playoff promotion. Subsequently, he saw out the remainder of his career in amateur football.

Honours Walsall Football League Second Division play-offs: 2001