He spent his youth at Espanyol and Barcelona, playing for both clubs' reserves before breaking through into the first team of the latter. He also spent one and a half seasons in Portugal with Porto and as many in Italy with Fiorentina. He returned Spain with Betis in 2017, where he made 172 total appearances and scored 24 goals, winning the Copa del Rey in 2022.
Born in Sabadell, Barcelona, Catalonia, Tello started playing at the age of eight with CFU Can Rull, moving to FC Barcelona shortly after and being loaned to another club in the region, CF Damm, for one year.
Tello made his first La Liga appearance on 28 January 2012, coming on as a substitute for Adriano in the 75th minute of a 0–0 draw at Villarreal CF.[6] The following weekend, in his first league start, he opened the score in the eighth minute of a 2–1 home victory over Real Sociedad after a through ball by Lionel Messi.[7]
On 7 March 2012, Tello replaced Andrés Iniesta early into the second half of a match against Bayer 04 Leverkusen at the Camp Nou, taking his bow in the UEFA Champions League: he scored his first goal within two minutes, after Cesc Fàbregas played him through over the top and he ran from the halfway line to net from just inside the penalty area for the 4–0; six minutes later, from a similar position, he made it 6–0 for the hosts in an eventual 7–1 win (10–2 on aggregate).[8]
On 13 December 2012, Tello signed a new contract with Barcelona, keeping him with the Blaugrana until June 2016.[12] Nine days later, he scored after only 30 seconds on the pitch in the last play of the 3–1 away win over Real Valladolid.[13]
Tello fell further down the offensive pecking order in 2013–14, following the arrival of Neymar.[14][15] He scored his first goal of the season on 11 December in a 6–1 home rout of Celtic in the Champions League group phase,[16] and six days later he also found the net, in a 3–0 victory against FC Cartagena in the domestic cup (7–1 on aggregate).[17] In the quarter-finals of the latter competition, away to Levante UD, he profited from three Messi assists to score his first hat-trick as a professional as his team won 4–1.[18]
On 22 January 2016, Barcelona and ACF Fiorentina reached an agreement for the loan of Tello until 30 June 2016.[23] He made his Serie A debut on 3 February, starting a 2–1 defeat of Carpi FC 1909 at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, and scored his first goal 18 days later in a 3–2 victory at Atalanta BC.[24]
Tello scored four league goals in each of his first two seasons.[30] In 2019–20 he rarely started under manager Rubi and was linked to January moves to Espanyol or Celta;[31] he stayed and scored the late winner against Real Madrid on 8 March.[32]
Tello scored five goals in 2020–21.[33] On 22 May 2021, as the campaign ended with qualification for the UEFA Europa League via a 3–2 comeback win at Celta, he came on as a half-time substitute and received the first sending-off of his career for two yellow cards in as many minutes.[34]
^Fernández, Elena (13 July 2012). "El futuro de Tello, una incógnita" [Tello's future, in the air] (in Spanish). Merca Fútbol. Archived from the original on 15 July 2012. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
^Egea, Pablo (18 December 2013). "Felices fiestas para Neymar" [Merry Christmas Neymar]. Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 January 2014.
^Aldunate, Ramiro (22 January 2014). "Messi cocina y Tello se pone las botas" [Messi cooks it and Tello gets fired up]. Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 23 January 2014.
^Lastra, Luis (25 August 2017). "Otro Villamarín, otro Betis (2-1)" [Another Villamarín, another Betis (2-1)]. El Correo de Andalucía (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 October 2022.
^Naranjo, María (20 January 2020). "Tello seguirá en el Betis: para Rubi es "uno más"" [Tello will continue at Betis: for Rubi, he is just "another player"] (in Spanish). El Desmarque. Retrieved 11 October 2022.