Salamanca Born in
Salamanca, Ito began his career at his hometown club
UD Salamanca. He made his first-team debut on 17 October 1979 in the second leg of the first round of the
Copa del Rey, at home to
Benavente; he was
substituted at half time in a 3–0 win. The following 6 April he made his one appearance of the
La Liga season, as a late replacement in a 2–1 win over
Hércules also at the
Helmántico Stadium. He played regularly for the
Charros in
1980–81, scoring his only goal on 11 January to secure a 1–1 draw away to
Real Murcia.
Real Madrid In March 1981, 19-year-old Ito agreed a five-year deal to transfer
Real Madrid, effective from July. The transfer would be worth between 20 and 25 million
Spanish pesetas, in addition to the loan of two or three players from the
capital city club's
reserve team,
Castilla. On his debut on 20 September he took under two minutes to score away to champions
Real Sociedad in the first game of the season, albeit in a 3–1 loss. Ten days later in the
UEFA Cup, he was one of four players – split equally between the two teams – to be sent off in a 1–0 home win over
Tatabánya of Hungary. In the team's winning Copa del Rey campaign, he scored in a 5–1 home win over
Málaga in the last 16, and played the full 90 minutes of the 2–1 victory over
Sporting Gijón in the
final on 13 April. On 13 October 1982, Ito played the first half of the first leg of the
Supercopa de España, a 1–0 win over Real Sociedad, though the
Basque side would win overall. At the end of the season he played both legs of the
Copa de la Liga final that his team lost against
Barcelona. In August 1984, Ito was loaned to
Real Valladolid. He made only 11 appearances in all competitions for the club from his native
Castile and León, scoring twice on 11 April in an 8–0 home win over
Antequerano in the first round of the Copa de la Liga.
Betis Ito left the
Santiago Bernabéu Stadium permanently in August 1985, signing for
Real Betis after manager
Luis Molowny had considered dropping him down to Castilla. The deal saw the cancellation of a
friendly match that had been promised to Betis as compensation for
Rafael Gordillo's transfer in the other direction. On his debut on 15 September, he came on for
Antolín Ortega with 12 minutes to play and scored the equaliser in a 2–2 draw at Real Sociedad's
Atotxa Stadium, the site of his first game and goal for Real Madrid. ==International career==