 His first game came on 10 September 1995, featuring three minutes in the 2–0 home win against Sporting de Gijón; he went on to spent 11 seasons at the former, all of them in the top flight.De Paula's time as a player for Real Sociedad was very successful although he was never a regular starter, more often than not scoring goals after coming in as a substitute, and usually made a good goals scored/minutes played ratio.Through 1999 to 2001 he netted nine goals in each season, but made only 11 appearances in 2002–03 as they finished runners-up and, in his last year, managed just six matches (280 minutes) with three goals.