He played seven consecutive seasons in La Liga, totalling 204 games and 26 goals for Logroñés, Valencia and Sporting de Gijón.
Born in Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia, Poyatos began his career at hometown club Xerez.
He had his most prolific season in 1993–94, scoring 8 goals in 36 games for the club from La Rioja; this included two on 19 December in a 3–1 win at Osasuna.
[3] His first season at the Mestalla Stadium saw his team reach the Copa del Rey final, which they lost 2–1 to Deportivo de La Coruña in a game that was abandoned due to rain with 11 minutes remaining and concluded three days later.
[4] In 1996–97 he took part in his only European season as the Che team reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup; he scored their goal in the 1–1 home draw with Schalke 04 in the game that saw them eliminated 3–1 on aggregate.