On 4 September 2026, the final day of the Portuguese window, Estrela da Amadora announced the arrival on loan of Jeremy Arévalo from VfB Stuttgart: one season, no option to buy. Eight months earlier the same player had been bought from Racing Santander for a fee the German press puts at around 7.5 million euros, on a contract until 2031.
Between those two dates lie seven Bundesliga appearances, no goals, and the club’s decision to earmark him for the reserve team in 2026/27. That is where to start.
The basic profile
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Name | Jeremy Alberto Arévalo Mera |
| Born | 19 March 2005, Maliaño, Spain |
| Age | 21 |
| Height | 1.82 m |
| Position | Forward |
| International | Ecuador, 3 caps, debut in November 2025 |
| Parent club | VfB Stuttgart, contract until 30 June 2031 |
| Loan | CF Estrela da Amadora, 2026/27 season, no option |
| Racing Santander | 37 first-team appearances and 8 goals, 56 and 6 for the B team |
| Stuttgart | 7 appearances, 0 goals |
The jump that has not worked, so far
Arévalo’s trajectory up to January was clean: two seasons between Racing Santander’s B team and the first team, with eight goals in thirty-seven games in a Spanish second division that is a hard league for a young forward, and steady growth. On those numbers Stuttgart invested a top-of-the-range fee for a twenty-year-old from Segunda División and handed him a five-and-a-half-year contract.
The following seven months told another story: seven appearances, no goals, and a place in the pecking order never won. That is not rare, and it is worth reading without drama. A forward arriving mid-season at a club already chasing its objectives finds the team settled, and the first six months are almost always about adapting. But when the club decides, at the end of the summer, that the plan for the following year is the reserve team, that adaptation stops being a phase and becomes a verdict.
Sporting director Fabian Wohlgemuth’s words were, as always in these cases, courteous and clear: the loan is “the right career step at this time to gain playing time and more experience in the Portuguese first division”. Translated without filters: here, this year, he would not play.
Why Portugal, and why without a buy option
The absence of an option to buy is the detail that says most about how Stuttgart view the player. A club wanting to shed a failed investment inserts an option or an obligation to buy and tries to recover part of the outlay. A club sending a player out to learn, intending to keep him, does not grant a buy option: that is Arévalo’s case, and in June 2027 he will return to Stuttgart with four years of contract still to run.
The chosen league is consistent with that reading. For years the Primeira Liga has been where central European clubs send young forwards who need to find out whether they can score against organised defences. Fewer goals go in than in the Netherlands, defending is better than in Belgium, and those who manage it usually cope with a higher division too.
Estrela da Amadora, for their part, can give a twenty-one-year-old forward what Stuttgart would not: a shirt from the first minute.
The technical profile, with what is known and what is not
The available profiles list him as a left-footed forward of 1.82 metres, developed as a centre forward but usable wide as well. It is the kind of build that works well in Spain for a forward who attacks the space behind and drops in to receive, less so for a target man who has to be a physical reference point.
On his actual output, though, one thing must be said: the available numbers come from a second division and a fragment of a Bundesliga season, and they are not enough for a verdict. The sources themselves do not agree perfectly on the totals, and we have reported both in the table: encyclopaedia entries give 37 appearances and 8 goals for Racing’s first team, the Spanish press 8 goals and 2 assists in 39 games from 2024/25. The difference depends on which competitions are counted, and neither version is wrong: they answer different questions.
The national team, and one thing we are not writing
Arévalo was born in Spain, represented Spain at Under 18 level and then chose Ecuador, making his senior debut in November 2025 in a friendly against Canada. On 31 May 2026 he was named in the twenty-six-man World Cup squad, wearing number 24. Ecuador opened the tournament on 14 June with a 1-0 defeat to Côte d’Ivoire.
How many World Cup matches he played, and for how many minutes, does not appear in the sources we consulted. It could have been a striking line and it is a line we are not writing: his senior caps total three, which makes a starring tournament unlikely, but unlikely is not a measurement.
What to watch this season
The loan has an objective declared by the club that is sending him out, and it is rare for it to be this explicit: minutes and experience. So the numbers to watch are two, and they are simple.
The first is playing time: below twenty appearances, the loan will have failed its purpose regardless of goals. The second is the ratio between shots and goals: for a twenty-one-year-old who did not score in the Bundesliga, the question is not whether he will get ten, but whether he will get on the end of enough chances to be able to.
In June 2027 he returns to Stuttgart with four years of contract and aged twenty-two. The Portuguese season will decide whether that return is a second chance or the start of an exit negotiation.
Sources: VfB Stuttgart statements and quotes relayed by the German and Portuguese press on 4 September 2026; Portuguese outlets (Maisfutebol, A Bola, Record) for the terms of the loan; the Bundesliga website and encyclopaedia entries for career data and the January 2026 transfer; Ecuador’s World Cup squad list published on 31 May 2026. The fee paid by Stuttgart was not disclosed by the club: the two estimates reported come from journalistic sources.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Jeremy Arévalo?
A forward born in Maliaño, Spain, on 19 March 2005, 1.82 metres tall, with an Ecuadorian passport and international career. Developed at Racing Santander, he has been owned by VfB Stuttgart since January 2026, and from 4 September 2026 he plays on loan at Estrela da Amadora, in the Primeira Liga.
How much did Stuttgart pay for him?
The reported figures differ slightly: the German press speaks of around 7.5 million euros, the Bundesliga website of around 7 million. The club did not publish the amount. The contract he signed then runs to 30 June 2031.
Does the loan include a buy option?
No. The move is temporary, lasts one season and contains no option to buy: at the end of 2026/27 Arévalo returns to Stuttgart, where he is under contract for four more seasons.
Why did Stuttgart send him away?
Sporting director Fabian Wohlgemuth put it in his own words: the loan to Estrela Amadora is the right career step at this moment to gain playing time and more experience in the Portuguese top flight. For 2026/27 the player had been earmarked for the reserve team.
What are his career numbers?
For Racing Santander B, 56 appearances and 6 goals between 2022 and 2024; for the first team, 37 appearances and 8 goals between 2023 and 2026 according to encyclopaedia entries, with the Spanish press reporting 8 goals and 2 assists in 39 games from 2024/25 onwards. At Stuttgart, 7 appearances and no goals.
Did he play at the 2026 World Cup?
He was included on 31 May 2026 in Ecuador's 26-man squad wearing number 24. How many matches and how many minutes he actually played does not appear in the sources we consulted, and we are not writing it: his total senior caps are three, the first in November 2025 in a friendly against Canada.
Why does he play for Ecuador if he was born in Spain?
He represented Spain at Under 18 level and then chose Ecuador, his family's country of origin, making his senior debut in November 2025. It is a change of association permitted by FIFA rules for a player who has not yet played competitive matches for the other senior national team.
