OFFICIAL: Ponce returns to Elche

FRANCISCO J. RODRíGUEZ
Fantasy LaLiga expert
2 HOURS AGO / 2 min read

Ezequiel Ponce returns to Elche from Houston Dynamo. He signs through 2027 and brings experience, mobility, pressure, and a goal-scoring threat to the franjiverde attack.

Elche C.F.

Ezequiel Ponce
1.000.000€ -

Ezequiel Ponce, the Argentine forward returns to the Martínez Valero after two seasons in the United States and signs through June 2027. The deal with Houston Dynamo includes an option to extend the contract by two more years depending on goals.

At 29 years old, Ponce knows exactly the setting he is returning to. He wore the franja between January 2022 and August 2023, a period in which he played 47 league matches and scored five goals. His first spell delivered fewer goals than expected, but it left a positive impression for his ability to compete and work for the team.

After leaving Elche, he went to the AEK of Athens and finished up at the Houston Dynamo, where he found continuity in MLS. With the American side, he added 15 goals in 59 competitive matches, an experience that allows him to return to Spain with more games and another competitive context behind him.

Playing style

Ponce is not a static forward who waits inside the box. He moves, looks for spaces and can attack the defensive line's back. He also has the power to contest duels and the ability to finish when he finds space close to goal. The Argentine works on pressing, takes part in the first defensive line and can unsettle the opposition's build-up. That intensity means he can contribute even when he does not find clear shooting situations.

Trained at Newell's Old Boys, Ponce left for Europe at a young age. Roma took a chance on him in 2015 and he later went through Granada, Lille, AEK and Spartak of Moscow before making his debut with the Elche. In Greece, he lived one of his best goal-scoring spells, with 16 goals during his loan to AEK in the 2018-19 season.

His return also changes the competition for the forward spot in Martín Anselmi's squad. Ponce joins an attacking line in which Fer Niño and Abiel Osorio are also present, within a project aimed at rebuilding the attack after several major departures.

Elche thus brings back a player who already knows the dressing room, the city and the demands of the Martínez Valero. The message is clear: experience, mobility, and the ability to create danger in a squad that needs to find new goals.