He finished his youth career with Cádiz CF, making his senior debut with the reserves in the Tercera División.
On 9 September 1984 he played his first match as a professional, starting in a 2–0 home win over RC Celta de Vigo in the Segunda División.
[1] José was definitely promoted to the first team in summer 1986, and made his La Liga debut on 2 November of that year by coming on as a late substitute in a 1–0 away loss against RCD Español.
[3] On 17 August 1991, after scoring a career-best seven goals to help his team avoid relegation in the play-offs, José signed a three-year deal with fellow top-tier club RCD Mallorca, for 75 million pesetas.
[5] He subsequently represented Rayo Vallecano, Málaga CF and China's Tianjin TEDA FC, retiring with the latter in 1997 at the age of only 30.
[14] On 22 February 2016, he was appointed manager at Spanish top-division Granada CF as a replacement for José Ramón Sandoval.