Guillermo Federico Molins Palmeiro (; born 26 September 1988) is a former professional footballer who played as a forward. Born in Uruguay, he played for the Sweden national team.
Beginning his career with Malmö FF in 2006, he has gone on to play professionally in Belgium, Spain, China, Greece, and Norway. A full international between 2010 and 2014, he has won six caps and scored one goal for the Sweden national team.
Club career
Malmö FF Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, Molins moved to Sweden when he was four year old. This was due to Uruguay's dictatorship as the reason why his family fled the country. Molins began his football career at Kävlinge GIF and moved to Landskrona BoIS, where he stayed there for a year. Molins then joined Kävlinge GIF for the second time in 2005 via Stora Harrie IF. In August 2005, he joined Malmö FF, starting out his professional football career.
Molins started out at the club's youth team for the rest of the 2005 season. He was promoted to the Malmö’s second season in the 2006 season. Around the same time, Molins was promoted to the club's first team when he was featured in a training match against Kristianstads FF on 28 February 2006. Molins later helped Malmö FF's second team win the league after beating Kirsebergs IF on 19 September 2006. He was then called up to the club's first team against Hammarby and made his debut for Malmö FF in Allsvenskan on 2 October 2006, coming on as an 87th-minute substitute for Emil Hallfreðsson, in a 2–2 draw. Molins then helped the club's second team reach the JSM tournament final by contributing good performances and scoring, only to lose 4–0 against Brommapojkarna's second team. But he did help Malmö FF's second team win the Malmö Championship. Molins went on to make five appearances in the club's first team at the end of the 2006 season.
Ahead of the 2007 season, Molins was promoted to the Malmö’s first team and signed his first professional contract with the club. It wasn't until on 15 May 2007 when he made his first appearance of the season, coming on as a late substitute, in a 1–0 win against Helsingborg. A month later on 15 June 2007, Molins made his first start for Malmö and played 54 minutes before being substituted, in a 2–1 loss against Halmstad. However, he found his playing time, mostly coming from the substitute bench throughout the 2007 season. As a result, Molins was demoted to the club's second time and found his playing time there. He later spoke in an interview with Malmö FF about his development and hope to earn a place in the first team. At the end of the 2007 season, Molins went on to make eleven appearances in all competitions.
Ahead of the 2008 season, Molins signed a contract with the Malmö FF, keeping him until 2011 and switched number shirt to 14. Since the start of the 2008 season, he fought for a regular place in the starting eleven for the club. In the opening game of the season, Molins set up Malmö FF's only goal of the game, in a 1–1 draw against IFK Göteborg. A week later on 10 April 2008, he scored his first goal for the club, in a 1–1 draw against Elfsborg. Six days later on 16 April 2008, Molins scored his second goal for Malmö FF, in a 2–0 win against Gefle. Two weeks later on 1 May 2008, he scored twice for the club, in a 3–2 win against Kristianstads in second round of the Svenska Cupen. During a 2–1 loss against Helsingborgs on 30 September 2008, Molins set up Malmö FF's only goal of the game but, when taken off by manager Roland Nilsson in the 66th minute, he reacted furiously and kicked the bench. This saw him being dropped from the squad for one match by the club. Having helped Malmö FF sixth place in the league, Molins said: "I still see myself as a striker, and I hope I get more chances at the top, said Guillermo Molins after the match. Although he is obviously happy to have kept a regular place in the team, and plays where he is placed by the coach." Despite suffering injuries during the 2008 season, he went on to make thirty appearances and scoring four times in all competitions.
At the start of the 2009 season, Molins continued to establish himself in the first team, and was the manager's choice as right midfielder in the starting line-up. It wasn't until on 31 May 2009 when he scored his first goal of the season, in a 2–2 draw against GAIS. In a match against Brommapojkarna on 12 July 2009, Molins scored his second goal of the season, but was sent–off for the second bookable offence in the 70th minute, in a 1–1 draw. After serving a one match suspension, he returned to the starting line–up against Halmstads on 27 July 2009, coming on as a late substitute, in a 3–0 win. Between 14 September 2009 and 4 October 2009, Molins set up the total of five goals, as well as, scoring his third goal of the season in a 5–0 win against Elfsborg. At the end of the 2009 season, he went on to make twenty–nine appearances and scoring three times in all competitions.
Ahead of the 2010 season, Molins said that his aim this season was to provide more assists for Malmö FF. He started the season well by scoring his first goal of the season, in a 3–0 win against Örebro on 23 March 2010. Molins then scored four more goals in the first half of the season. He continued to establish himself in the first team, and proved to be a very skilled dribbler, becoming involved in most attacks for the club. It wasn't until on 4 July 2010 when Molins scored his sixth goal of the season, in a 4–1 loss against Mjällby in the fourth round of the Svenska Cupen. However in the second half of the season, he was challenged in some games by Jiloan Hamad, which saw him placed on the substitute bench. Despite this, he regained his first team place towards the end of the 2010 season. Molins then scored two more goals, coming against Trelleborg and BK Häcken. He helped Malmö FF win the league for the first time in six years by beating Mjällby AIF 2–0 on 7 November 2010. Despite missing one match throughout the 2010 season, Molins went on to make thirty appearances and scoring eight times in all competitions. Throughout the 2010 season, Molins’ performance attracted interests from European clubs, such as, Bundesliga side 1. FC Köln, Primeira Liga side Sporting CP and Scottish Premiership side Celtic. This led to the club began a contract negotiations for the player in effort to keep him but he wanted to leave Malmö.
Ahead of the 2011 season, Molins continued to be linked a move away from Malmö, with Serie A clubs and even Sporting CP, who renewed their interest, wanted to sign him. But he ended up staying at the club despite having his contract set to expire at the end of the 2011 season. At the start of the 2011 season, Molins continued to be challenged for a position in the starting eleven by Hamad and Jimmy Durmaz in the start of the 2011 season, partly due to minor injuries on his part. It wasn't until on 20 April 2011 when he scored his first goal of the season, in a 1–0 win against Mjällby AIF. On 15 May 2011, Molins secured a 2–1 home win against Örebro SK with two powerful shots in the top left goal corner after the team had been down 0–1 in half time.
Malmö FF's director of sports Per Ågren announced on 26 May 2011 that he expected Molins to leave the club in the summer of 2011 because his contract was ending in November and Molins had declined to negotiate a renewal. On 2 June 2011, several newspapers reported that Molins had started negotiations with Anderlecht, three days after former club partner Behrang Safari had signed for the Belgian club. On 17 June 2011, Malmö FF reported that Molins had signed a four-year contract with Anderlecht.
Anderlecht Molins was announced an Anderlecht player on 17 June 2011. Just 8 days later Molins was carried off the field after just 25 minutes in a friendly against Knokke, he tore the ligaments of his knee and also his meniscus was affected. After the match, it was announced that he would be out for six months. At the beginning of 2012, Molins began making progress of making a recovery from his injury, though he had to wait two months to be fully fit. But the following month saw Molins returned full training and it wasn't until on 18 March 2012, he finally played a few minutes in the 2–2 game on the field of Sint-Truidense. It wasn't until on 6 May 2012 when Molins made his second appearance for the club, coming on as an 86th-minute substitute, in a 1–1 draw against Club Brugge, resulting in Anderlecht winning the league title. This was followed up by making his first start for the club, as Anderlecht lost 2–0 against Kortrijk. At the end of the 2011–12 season, he went on to make four appearances in all competitions.
Ahead of the 2012–13 season, Molins said in an interview that he hope to make a comeback for the club now that his injury has been recovered. Molins then scored his first goal for Anderlecht in a 6–0 win against FK Ekranas in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League Third Round, resulting in the club going through to the next round following their 11–0 win on aggregate. However, he continued to find his first team opportunities limited, due to competitions in the midfield positions and was placed on the substitute bench. After a month away from the first team, Molins made his first appearance against Royal Francs Borains in the sixth round of the Belgian Cup, starting the whole game, in a 2–0 win. A month later on 24 October 2012, he made his UEFA Champions League debut, coming on as an 83rd-minute substitute, in a 1–0 loss against Zenit Saint Petersburg. By the time Molins was sent on loan to Real Betis, he made seven appearances and scoring once in all competitions in the 2012–13 season.
As a result of lack of first team opportunities, Molins told Anderlecht's management that he wanted to leave the club to get first team football. On 16 January 2013, Molins went on loan to La Liga side Real Betis for the remainder of the 2012–13 season. Upon joining the club, he confirmed to have chosen Betis instead of clubs in the Dutch Eredivisie. Molins made his debut for the club, coming on as a second-half substitute, in a 1–1 draw against Atlético Madrid in the second leg of the Copa del Rey quarter–finals, resulting in Real Betis elimination from the tournament. He made four appearances coming in from the bench for the club. Following his loan spell at Real Betis came to an end, Anderlecht placed Molins on a transfer list and expected him to leave the club. This led to European clubs keen on signing him, but the player preferred a return to Sweden, with his former club, Malmö FF, interested in signing him. After leaving Anderlecht, he said his time in Belgium was difficult and felt frozen at the club.
Return to Malmö FF On 11 August 2013, the last day of the Swedish transfer window, Molins signed a three-year contract with his former club Malmö FF. He was given a pitch presentation and the number 24 jersey before the home fixture against AIK.