| Personal information | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Luciano Gabriel Figueroa Herrera | |||||||||||
| Date of birth | 19 May 1981 | |||||||||||
| Place of birth | Santa Fe, Argentina | |||||||||||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[1] | |||||||||||
| Playing position | Striker | |||||||||||
| Club information | ||||||||||||
| Current club | Rosario Central | |||||||||||
| Number | 9 | |||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† | |||||||||
| 2001–2003 | Rosario Central | 57 | (35) | |||||||||
| 2003 | Birmingham City | 1 | (0) | |||||||||
| 2004 | Cruz Azul | 34 | (21) | |||||||||
| 2004–2006 | Villarreal | 24 | (6) | |||||||||
| 2006 | River Plate | 7 | (3) | |||||||||
| 2006–2009 | Genoa | 29 | (5) | |||||||||
| 2008–2009 | → Boca Juniors (loan) | 23 | (8) | |||||||||
| 2010–2011 | Rosario Central | 36 | (12) | |||||||||
| National team‡ | ||||||||||||
| 2004–2005 | Argentina | 15 | (9) | |||||||||
|
Honours
|
||||||||||||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23 May 2010. † Appearances (Goals). |
||||||||||||
Luciano Gabriel "Lucho" Figueroa Herrera (born 19 May 1981 in Santa Fe, Argentina) is an Argentine association football player who currently plays as a striker for Rosario Central.
Contents |
Figueroa began his professional career with Rosario Central of Argentina, where he formed a partnership with César Delgado. In the 2003 Clausura, Figueroa finished as Argentina's leading goalscorer with 17 goals,[2] including scoring five in the last match of the season against an under-strength Boca Juniors.[3] This was his last season at Rosario Central. Both he and Delgado transferred overseas in the summer of 2003, with Figueroa joining English Premier League club Birmingham City for a fee of £2.5 million.[4]
Controversy arose when Spanish club Osasuna claimed that Figueroa had signed a contract with them before his move to Birmingham, thereby invalidating the transfer.[5] At the end of August 2003 FIFA ruled provisionally in Birmingham's favour,[6] but it was not until October that this ruling was finally confirmed.[7] Figueroa had been close to joining Rangers earlier that summer but the Glasgow club pulled out of the deal.[8]
Though Figueroa was scoring freely for Birmingham's reserve team, manager Steve Bruce believed he would struggle in the Premiership due to his physique.[9] After only one League appearance, as a late substitute in a 2–0 defeat of Portsmouth,[10] and one outing in the League Cup,[11] his contract was annulled[12] and he signed for Cruz Azul of the Primera División de México, where he was reunited with former teammate Delgado.
After a slow start Figueroa returned to his old form with Cruz Azul, scoring 9 goals in the last 7 games of the 2004 Clausura. He maintained his form in the 2004 Apertura, scoring 10 goals in 14 games for the club.
His exceptional performances for Cruz Azul led to a transfer to Spain, where he signed a five-and-a-half-year contract with Villarreal in November 2004.[13] The transfer fee was officially undisclosed, but was estimated in the media as €3 million.[14]
Figueroa made less of an impact at Villarreal. Even so, he helped the club to a third-place finish in La Liga in the 2004–05 season and contributed in the early rounds of Villarreal's progression to the semi-final of the 2005–06 Champions League – including scoring the club's first ever Champions League goal, against Everton in the third qualifying round.
In January 2006, apparently concerned that his lack of playing time would adversely affect his chances of selection for Argentina at the 2006 World Cup,[15] Figueroa returned to his home country. He joined River Plate, who bought 50% of the rights to the player.[16] He started well there, scoring three goals in his first seven games of the 2006 Clausura, but on 5 March 2006 he suffered a cruciate ligament injury which effectively put an end to his career with River.
On 1 August 2006, Villarreal sold Figueroa to Genoa of Serie B for a reported $13-million fee. He signed a four-year contract with the club.[17] Though still not fully recovered from his injury, medical opinion was that Figueroa should have been able to play again by mid-October. However it became clear that the knee reconstruction had not been completely successful and that another operation would be needed. It was predicted that this further surgery would keep him from playing that season.[18]
Figueroa eventually made his debut for Genoa, by this time in Serie A, on 28 October 2007 as a second-half substitute against Fiorentina,[19] and scored his first goal for the club some six weeks later, a stoppage time consolation in a 3–1 defeat at home to Siena.[20]
Luciano was loaned from Genoa to Boca Juniors in October 2008. He played an important role during the Torneo Apertura by scoring important goals as the title race was between Boca Juniors, Tigre and San Lorenzo, who were level on points at the top of the table. Eventually, Figueroa's performances helped Boca to win the Torneo Apertura.
After Genoa released the player, he returned to his first club, Rosario Central. After passing a medical examination on his knee, he signed a two-and-a-half-year contract on 20 January 2010.[21][22][23]
Figueroa has appeared for the Argentina national football team, performing impressively in the Copa América 2004 and the 2005 Confederations Cup - where only the Brazilian Adriano outscored him - and was part of the gold medal-winning Argentina team at the 2004 Summer Olympics. At international level, he boasts a strike-rate of 60%, with 9 goals from 15 appearances. The cruciate injury deprived him of the chance to represent his country at the 2006 World Cup.[15]
| Olympic medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's football | ||
| Gold | 2004 Athens | Team |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||
|
|||||