José Ángel Valdés Díaz (born 5 September 1989), known as José Ángel or Cote, is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a left-back.
He started and finished his 17-year career with Sporting de Gijón. He achieved La Liga totals of 222 games and five goals over 11 seasons with that club, Real Sociedad, Villarreal, Eibar and Osasuna, and also spent two years in the Portuguese Primeira Liga with Porto and one in the Italian Serie A with Roma.
José Ángel won the 2011 European Under-21 Championship with Spain.
Born in Gijón, Asturias, José Ángel was a product of hometown Sporting de Gijón's prolific youth system, Mareo. He made his first-team and La Liga debut on 8 February 2009, in a 3–1 away loss against FC Barcelona. He went on to feature regularly for the duration of the season as the side narrowly avoided a drop, adding a goal in a 3–2 home win over Deportivo de La Coruña.
In 2009–10, José Ángel again played 13 games for the first team as they retained once again their top-division status (15th position). In the following campaigns, he continued battling for position with another club youth graduate, Roberto Canella, with both players appearing in roughly the same number of matches.
On 19 July 2011, Serie A club AS Roma reached an agreement with Sporting Gijón for the transfer of José Ángel, joining compatriot Luis Enrique who had just been appointed team manager; the former paid €4.5 million for his services, plus bonuses. He made his competitive debut on 11 September, being sent off in a 1–2 home loss against Cagliari Calcio.
José Ángel spent the 2012–13 and 2013–14 seasons on loan to Real Sociedad, mainly acting as backup to Alberto de la Bella during his spell.
In July 2014, José Ángel joined FC Porto for free, with Roma being eligible to receive 50% of any future transfer fee. He appeared in 29 competitive games during his two-year spell in Portugal, his Primeira Liga debut arriving on 31 August 2014 in a 3–0 home defeat of Moreirense FC (90 minutes played).
José Ángel was loaned to Villarreal CF on 25 July 2016, for one year.
On 14 July 2017, José Ángel signed a three-year contract with SD Eibar as a free agent. On 5 July 2021, after suffering relegation, he joined CA Osasuna on a two-year deal.
José Ángel returned to his first club Sporting in July 2022, on a two-year contract. On 5 March 2025, the 35-year-old announced his retirement at the end of the season.
José Ángel earned four caps for the Spain under-21 team, his debut coming on 27 March 2009. He was selected by manager Luis Milla to the squad that appeared – and won – the 2011 UEFA European Championship in Denmark, being an unused member as RCD Espanyol's Dídac Vilà played all the matches and minutes.
As of match played 22 May 2022
UEFA European Under-21 Championship: 2011
José Ángel at ForaDeJogo (archived)
José Ángel – FIFA competition record (archived)