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Ander Herrera Agüera (; born 14 August 1989) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Argentine Primera División club Boca Juniors.
Herrera began his career at Real Zaragoza, before moving to Athletic Bilbao in 2011 and then to Manchester United for €36 million in 2014. With the English club, he won the FA Cup, FA Community Shield, EFL Cup and UEFA Europa League (in which he was named man of the match in the final), and was named as their player of the year for the 2016–17 season. He moved to Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in 2019, winning the domestic quadruple and starting in the UEFA Champions League final against Bayern Munich in his first season, where PSG lost 1–0. At PSG, Herrera won Ligue 1, the Coupe de France, and the Trophée des Champions all twice, and the Coupe de la Ligue once. In 2022, he returned to Athletic Bilbao, first on loan before a permanent move in January 2023, he was part of the 2023–24 Copa del Rey winning squad with Bilbao.
Herrera has won tournaments with Spain at under-20 and under-21 level, and represented his nation at the 2012 Summer Olympics. He made his senior international debut for La Roja in November 2016, but would only ever make two appearances, his final one being in March 2017.
During the 2009–10 campaign, Herrera was one of Zaragoza's most used players as the club managed to retain its top-flight status. He scored his first league goal on 6 December, but in a 4–1 away defeat to RCD Mallorca. Mallorca maintain home run; ESPN Soccernet, 6 December 2009
In 2010–11, Herrera continued to feature regularly for Zaragoza, under both José Aurelio Gay and his successor Javier Aguirre.
Herrera made his official debut for Athletic Bilbao on 18 August 2011, playing the full 90 minutes in a 0–0 home draw against Trabzonspor in the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League. He appeared in 54 official matches and scored four goals in his first season with the Basque club, who reached the finals of both the Copa del Rey and the Europa League. In his third and final season he played 33 league games as Athletic qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the first time in 16 years.
Herrera made his debut in the opening game of the Premier League season on 16 August, a 2–1 home defeat to Swansea City. He played 67 minutes before being substituted for Marouane Fellaini. Herrera picked up an injury during training and missed Manchester United's next two games against Sunderland and Burnley. In his first game back after returning from injury, against Queens Park Rangers on 14 September 2014, he scored his first goal for the club and made an assist as Manchester United won the game 4–0. He scored again in United's next game, flicking in Ángel Di María's shot with his heel in their 5–3 defeat to newly promoted Leicester City on 21 September.
Herrera scored his first FA Cup goal with a dipping effort in a third round tie against Yeovil Town on 4 January 2015. Herrera followed his cup goal against Yeovil with an important equalising goal against Preston North End in the FA Cup fifth round; United would go on to win the tie 3–1 and progress to the quarter final stage. Herrera started a Premier League game for the first time since 2 December against Swansea City, scoring United's only goal – his fifth of the season – in a 2–1 defeat. On 4 April, Herrera scored the first brace of his career to help United beat Aston Villa 3–1; he was also named man of the match for his performances.
On 25 February 2016, Herrera scored his first European goal at Old Trafford – a powerfully converted penalty in the latter stages of a 5–1 win over FC Midtjylland, in the Round of 32 of the Europa League. Later that week, on 28 February, Herrera scored the winning goal in a 3–2 victory over Arsenal. On 23 April, Herrera featured in United's triumph in the FA Cup Semi-final over Everton at Wembley Stadium; on as an 87th-minute substitute for Marouane Fellaini with the score tied at 1–1, Herrera played a one-two with Anthony Martial, sending the Frenchman through on goal to score a dramatic injury-time winner to seal a 2–1 win and send United through to the final. United went on to beat Crystal Palace 2–1 in the final, securing the cup and Herrera's first major honour with United.
On 26 February, he was named in the starting XI for the 2017 EFL Cup Final win against Southampton at Wembley Stadium, and contributed an assist for Zlatan Ibrahimović's second goal of the match which gave United a 3–2 lead and eventually proved to be the winning goal and secured Herrera's second major trophy with United. Having been sent off against Chelsea on 13 March at Stamford Bridge in their FA Cup quarter-final match, he turned in a man of the match display on 16 April against the same team at Old Trafford in the Premier League by shackling Eden Hazard, assisting Marcus Rashford for the first goal, then himself getting on the scoresheet with the second goal for a 2–0 win which kept United in the hunt for a top-four finish and extended their unbeaten run to twenty-two matches.
On 18 May 2017, Herrera was presented with the Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year award. After helping Manchester United win the 2017 UEFA Europa League Final on 24 May, Herrera was awarded the game's man of the match accolade, which he dedicated to victims of the Manchester Arena bombing that occurred a few days earlier.
On 11 May 2019, it was confirmed that Herrera would be leaving United at the end of the season.
On 11 September 2021, Herrera scored a brace in a 4–0 league win over Clermont Foot, the second brace of his career. Four days later, he scored his first Champions League goal in the competition proper, a low-driven, left-footed shot from the middle of the penalty area in a 1–1 draw against Club Brugge.
On 31 January 2023, Athletic exercised their purchase option at no cost. On 2 March, he issued a statement expressing his concern about the continuous muscle injuries he was suffering throughout the season which were preventing him from having a sustained run of games. On 22 April, after three months without starting, he was in the lineup in a win over Almería. In his second season, he was part of the squad which won the Copa del Rey, although he was an unused substitute in the final against Mallorca. On 13 June 2024, he extended his contract until 2025.
Herrera was selected by Spain under-21 coach Luis Milla for the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Denmark. On 12 June, in the group stage opener against England, he scored a controversial goal in an eventual 1–1 draw. Spain U21 1–1 England U21; BBC Sport, 12 June 2011 In the final against Switzerland, through another header, Herrera netted the first goal in an eventual 2–0 win in Aarhus. Spain crowned European Under-21 champions; UEFA, 25 June 2011 He played for Spain at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
He received his first senior call-up on 3 October 2016, for 2018 World Cup qualification fixtures against Italy and Albania, but did not feature in either game. He made his senior international debut against England, at Wembley Stadium, on 15 November 2016, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 2–2 draw.
| + Appearances and goals by club, season and competition !rowspan="2" | Club !rowspan="2" | Season !colspan="3" | League !colspan="2" | National cup !colspan="2" | League cup !colspan="2" | Continental !colspan="2" | Other !colspan="2" | Total |
| Zaragoza B | 2008–09 | Tercera División | 2 | |||||
| Real Zaragoza | 2008–09 | Segunda División | 2 | |||||
| 2009–10 | La Liga | 2 | ||||||
| 2010–11 | La Liga | 2 | ||||||
| Athletic Bilbao | 2011–12 | La Liga | 4 | |||||
| 2012–13 | La Liga | 2 | ||||||
| 2013–14 | La Liga | 5 | ||||||
| Manchester United | 2014–15 | Premier League | 8 | |||||
| 2015–16 | Premier League | 5 | ||||||
| 2016–17 | Premier League | 2 | ||||||
| 2017–18 | Premier League | 2 | ||||||
| 2018–19 | Premier League | 3 | ||||||
| Paris Saint-Germain | 2019–20 | Ligue 1 | 1 | |||||
| 2020–21 | Ligue 1 | 1 | ||||||
| 2021–22 | Ligue 1 | 4 | ||||||
| Athletic Bilbao | 2022–23 | La Liga | 0 | |||||
| 2023–24 | La Liga | 0 | ||||||
| 2024–25 | La Liga | 0 | ||||||
| Boca Juniors | 2025 | Argentine Primera División | 0 | |||||
| + Appearances and goals by national team and year | |
| Spain | 0 |
| 0 | |
Paris Saint-Germain
Athletic Bilbao
Spain U20
Spain U21
Individual
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