Career
lieutenant was his only official appearance for the Catalan club In the 2001 summer, Elá signed for Southampton in England, penning a three-year contract after turning down Coventry City. During his spell he never appeared officially with the Premier League side, being limited to reserve team football.
Additionally, in the 2001-2002 season, he suffered a serious knee injury.
In the 2002 off-season, Elá was loaned to Hércules CF in the Spanish third level, under former Sporting de Gijón and Civil Defense Tenerife player Felipe Miñambres. In March 2003, in a friendly match with Elche CF, he suffered another severe injury to his knee, after a hard tackle by Raúl Pérez.
Upon his return to the Saints, he continued to appear exclusively for the second team In the 2005 summer, Elá signed for Dundee in the Scottish Football League First Division.
His output consisted of two league games, plus two appearances in the Challenge Cup and one in the League Cup, going scoreless in the process.
He left the club in late November. From 2005 until his retirement in 2010 at the age of only 28, Elá played exclusively in amateur football, the sole exception being eight third level games for UDA Gramenet in the 2006-2007 campaign. A defender, he represented the Equatoguinean national team