Rodrigo Javier De Paul (; born 24 May 1994) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a midfielder or an attacking midfielder for La Liga club Atlético Madrid and the Argentina national team. Club career Racing Club Born in Sarandí, Greater Buenos Aires, De Paul joined Racing Club's youth setup in 2002, aged eight. He was called up to the main squad on 24 June 2012, while still a junior, for a match against Vélez Sarsfield, but remained unused in the 1–2 home loss. On 10 February 2013, De Paul played his first match as a professional, replacing Mauro Camoranesi in the 86th minute of a 0–3 loss at Atlético de Rafaela. He scored his first goal a month later, netting the last through a long-range shot in a 3–0 win at San Martín de San Juan. De Paul appeared in 19 matches during the 2012–13 campaign. He then played a key part in 2013–14, featuring in 35 matches and scoring four times. Valencia On 9 May 2014, it was announced that Valencia CF agreed to a US$6.5 million deal for De Paul with Racing. He signed a five-year deal with Los Che on 6 June, and made his La Liga debut on 23 August under head coach Nuno Espírito Santo, replacing Paco Alcácer in the 65th minute in a 1–1 away draw against Sevilla FC, but being sent off just one minute later due to fouling Aleix Vidal. He scored his first goal for the club on 4 December 2014 in the 2–1 win against Rayo Vallecano in the Copa del Rey. He followed this up with his first La Liga goal on 9 April 2015 against Athletic Bilbao, making 29 appearances in all competitions during his first season at the club. After making 14 appearances in all competitions during the first half of the 2015-16 season, including two in the Champions League. On 4 February 2016, he was loaned out by then Valencia manager Gary Neville to his former side Racing Club. He scored his first and only goal in a victory against Bolívar on 24 February in the Copa Libertadores. Udinese On 20 July 2016, De Paul was transferred to Italian Serie A club Udinese. He made his debut on 20 August 2016 against AS Roma in a 4–0 defeat. He scored his first goal for the club on 29 January 2017 against AC Milan in