Juan Sebastián Verón

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Juan Sebastián Verón
Personal information
Full name Juan Sebastián Verón
Date of birth March 9, 1975 (age 32)
Place of birth    La Plata, Argentina
Nickname La Brujita (Little Witch)
Playing position Attacking midfielder
Club information
Current club Estudiantes de La Plata
Youth clubs
1993 Estudiantes
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1994–95
1996
1996–98
1998–99
1999–2001
2001–2003
2003–present
2004–06
2006–present		 Estudiantes
Boca Juniors
Sampdoria
Parma
S.S. Lazio
Manchester United
Chelsea
→ Internazionale (loan)
Estudiantes		 60 0(7)
17 0(3)
61 (14)
26 0(1)
53 (11)
51 (14)
07 0(1)
49 0(3)
18 0(2)   
National team
1996–2003, 2007– Argentina 58 0(9)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Juan Sebastián Verón (born March 9, 1975 in La Plata) is an Argentine professional football player who plays as a midfielder for Estudiantes de La Plata. He most successfully played at Italian clubs Parma A.C. and S.S. Lazio with whom he won the international UEFA Cup tournament (Parma) and the domestic Serie A championship (Lazio).

In 2004, he was chosen for the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living footballers selected by Pelé as part of FIFA's centenary observances. Verón has Italian citizenship. He also has a tattoo of Che Guevara on his right arm.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Verón is the firstborn son of former Argentina striker Juan Ramón Verón, who was known as La Bruja (The Witch) and who scored against Manchester United in the 1968 World Club Championship at Old Trafford for Estudiantes. He was born the day his father played a derby for Estudiantes against cross-town rivals Gimnasia y Esgrima.

In 1993, Verón signed for Estudiantes de La Plata, and helped the team win return from relegation to the Argentine premiership in 1995. In 1996 he joined Boca Juniors, playing 17 games and scoring three goals. He made his international debut for Argentina, against Poland, in the same year. Sven-Göran Eriksson signed him for Sampdoria shortly afterwards.

[edit] Argentine national team

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Verón was summoned for the 1998 World Cup held in France. His performance was acceptable, and his slow moving style of play did go reasonably well with coach Daniel Passarella's defense-minded strategy. However, a rumor (never confirmed) that Verón had failed an internal doping control hampered his relationship with the media and fans. He was called again to participate in the 2002 World Cup in Korea / Japan.

On February 28, 2007, national coach Alfio Basile called Verón again to the national team, based on his performance in Estudiantes's 2006 championship team, and Basile's intention of fielding more players from the Argentine league, thus dimishing the national team's bias towards European-based players.

[edit] Italian triumphs

In 1998, after playing for Argentina in the 1998 World Cup, he signed for Parma in a £15m deal. The following year, Parma won the Coppa Italia. Eriksson then signed him again, this time for Lazio in an £18.1m deal, with Verón reportedly netting a weekly wage of £48,000. He made his debut for Lazio in the Italian side's 1-0 victory over Manchester United in the European Super Cup in Monaco.

In 2000, Verón was the driving force for Lazio as they captured the scudetto, the Coppa Italia and the Italian Super Cup. But in February the following year, rumours about the validity of his passport caught up with him. After the 2001 season he moved from Lazio to Manchester United on July 12 for £28.1 million in a five-year deal, the most expensive transfer in English football at that time. Upon signing for Manchester United, he said he had no fear of the Premiership.

[edit] Premier League

There was plenty of pressure on him at the start of his second season at Old Trafford, and his performances did seem to improve considerably, especially in the Champions League where he scored four goals and was at the heart of United's successes in the group stages. However, injury meant that he missed much of the end of the season.

When Chelsea came in for him following the arrival of Roman Abramovich, Verón claimed that he wanted to stay and fight for his place at Old Trafford, but Ferguson was willing to let Chelsea talk to him, and he was eventually convinced by then Chelsea manger Claudio Ranieri that his future lay at Stamford Bridge, where he had much to prove. His transfer fee to Chelsea was about half that of his record-breaking transfer of just two years before, showing both the fall in the transfer market and the decline of his reputation.

Verón made an excellent start to his Chelsea career by scoring the opening goal in a 2-1 victory away at Liverpool, but he fell away as the 2003-04 season progressed and made only 14 appearances for Chelsea.

José Mourinho took over as manager following the season, Verón was loaned out to Inter, where he found the slow tempo and thoughtful game to his liking much more than the physical, energetic, and generally much quicker pace of the English Premier League, for the 2004-05 season, and from 24 June 2005 he subsequently returned to Inter on loan for a further two seasons, which finished the contract with Chelsea F.C.. With Inter, he won the 2005 and 2006 Coppa Italia.

[edit] Returning home

In mid-2006, when he expressed his desire of returning to his home country for the 2006-2007 season, he received offers from Boca Juniors and River Plate, but preferred to return to boyhood club Estudiantes de La Plata, of whom he is a declared fan (he has made significant donations in the past to upgrade the club training facilities). He compensates his limited physical speed with his considerable experience and field vision. On December 13, 2006 he helped Estudiantes win the Apertura 2006 tournament, its first in 23 years, in a final playoff match final over Boca Juniors.

Some rival fans booed him, arguably over his sub-par performances during the 2002 World Cup, but Verón was ranked among the top three players in the 2006 Argentine League by sports newspaper Olé.[1]

Verón he has indicated that he is considering running for president of Estudiantes in the future, a step that has the approval of the current administration and of the fans. He was a decisive factor in the agreement with La Plata city hall to rebuild Estudiantes' historic stadium to modern standards so as to allow its re-opening. Verón even engaged Argentine president Néstor Kirchner to kick-start the negotiations, which had been stalled by La Plata mayor Julio Alak [1].

[edit] Honours

Domestic
European

[edit] References

  1. ^ ""Nunca pensé en renunciar a la Selección"", Olé, 2006-11-03. (in Spanish)

[edit] External links


Flag of Argentina Argentina squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup Quarter-finalists Flag of Argentina

1 Roa | 2 Ayala | 3 Chamot | 4 Pineda | 5 Almeyda | 6 Sensini | 7 López | 8 Simeone | 9 Batistuta | 10 Ortega | 11 Verón | 12 Burgos | 13 Paz | 14 Vivas | 15 Astrada | 16 Berti | 17 Cavallero | 18 Balbo | 19 Crespo | 20 Gallardo | 21 Delgado | 22 Zanetti | Coach: Passarella
Flag of Argentina Argentina squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup Flag of Argentina

1 Burgos | 2 Ayala | 3 Sorín | 4 Pochettino | 5 Almeyda | 6 Samuel | 7 C. López | 8 Zanetti | 9 Batistuta | 10 Ortega | 11 Verón | 12 Cavallero | 13 Placente | 14 Simeone | 15 Husaín | 16 Aimar | 17 G. López | 18 González | 19 Crespo | 20 Gallardo | 21 Caniggia | 22 Chamot | 23 Bonano | Coach: Bielsa
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