Nicolás Otamendi

Nicolás Otamendi

Otamendi playing for Argentina
Personal information
Full name	Nicolás Hernán Gonzalo Otamendi
Date of birth	(1988-02-12) 12 February 1988
Place of birth	Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height	1.84 m (6 ft  1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Centre back
Club information
Current club	Atlético Mineiro
Number	20
Youth career
1995–2007	Vélez Sársfield
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2007–2010	Vélez Sársfield	40	(1)
2010–2014	Porto	77	(6)
2014–	Valencia	0	(0)
2014–	→ Atlético Mineiro (loan)	0	(0)
National team‡
2009–	Argentina	16	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 00:00, 14 January 2014 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 00:00, 19 November 2013 (UTC)

Nicolás Hernán Gonzalo Otamendi (born 12 February 1988) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays for Clube Atlético Mineiro on loan from Valencia CF in Spain, as a central defender.

In his professional career he played mainly for Vélez Sársfield and Porto, winning eight major titles with the second including three national championships and the 2011 Europa League.

An Argentine international since 2009, Otamendi represented the country at the 2010 World Cup.

Club career

Vélez

Born in Buenos Aires, Otamendi made his Primera División debut for Club Atlético Vélez Sársfield on 10 May 2008, in a 2–1 home win against Rosario Central for the Clausura tournament.^[1] During manager Hugo Tocalli's spell he was only fifth-choice stopper, behind Waldo Ponce, Fernando Tobio, Marco Torsiglieri and Mariano Uglessich. However, his role in the first team changed during Ricardo Gareca's first season as head coach, the 2009 Clausura: he replaced Ponce for the third game after the Chilean was injured while playing for his national team,^[1] and eventually won a starting position alongside Sebastián Domínguez,^[1] playing 17 of the 19 games in Vélez' winning campaign.^[2]

Otamendi scored his first professional goal during the 2009 Apertura, in Vélez' 3–1 victory over Arsenal de Sarandí. During that season he also made his debuts in an international club competition, appearing in the Copa Sudamericana; in recognition of his performances throughout the year he was chosen for the South American Team of the Year, in a traditional continent-wide journalists' poll conducted by the newspaper El País.^[3]

Porto

On 23 August 2010, Otamendi was transferred to Portuguese side F.C. Porto on a €4 million fee, signing a five-year contract –^[4]Vélez also retained 50% of his registration rights, with the player having a pre-set price of another €4 million to be met by Porto prior to September 2011.^[5] He netted in his first match, a 2–0 home victory over S.C. Olhanense,^[6] finishing his first season with 15 appearances and five goals (notably both in a 2–0 away win against S.C. Braga^[7]) as the northerners won the national championship.

On 6 September 2011, Porto exercised the rights to sign the remainder of Otamendi's playing rights.^[8][9] He played 30 official games during the season to help the club to another two major titles, notably the back-to-back domestic league.

Valencia

On 5 February 2014, Otamendi was sold to Valencia CF in La Liga for €12 million, on a five-year contract starting on 1 July.^[10] He was immediately loaned to Clube Atlético Mineiro in Brazil.

International career

In April 2009, Otamendi was called by Argentine national team coach Diego Maradona for a friendly with Panama.^[11] At the time of his selection he had only played 11 professional games,^[1] and eventually started the match on 20 May, in a 3–1 win.

During the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, Otamendi played as centre-back alongside Martín Demichelis against Ecuador (0–2 away loss), partnered former Vélez teammate Domínguez against Brazil in a 1–3 home defeat and appeared as a right-back in a 1–0 win in Uruguay which sealed the country's qualification to South Africa.

On 19 May 2010 Otamendi was confirmed as part of the 23-men squad for the final stages.^[12] On 22 June he was in the starting eleven for the final group stage game against Greece; on the press conference after the match, Maradona said that, in his opinion, Otamendi was the best player on the field.^[13]

Otamendi also played the 90 minutes of the round-of-16 game against Mexico, which Argentina won by 3–1. His final appearance in the tournament was the 0–4 quarter-final loss against Germany: this time his performance received criticism by the football press, as did Maradona's decision to improvise him on the right-back position;^[14][15] however, the player subsequently stated his desire to always play for his national team, even if not in his natural position.^[16]

Otamendi scored his first goal for Argentina on 2 September 2011, in a 1–0 friendly win over Venezuela in Kolkata, after heading a corner taken by Lionel Messi.^[17]

International goals

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	2 September 2011	Kolkata, India	Venezuela	1–0	1–0	Friendly

Honours

Vélez Sársfield

• Argentine Primera División: 2009 Clausura

Porto

• UEFA Europa League: 2010–11
• Primeira Liga: 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13
• Taça de Portugal: 2010–11
• Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 2011, 2012, 2013
• UEFA Super Cup: Runner-up 2011
• Taça da Liga: Runner-up 2012–13

Club statistics

As of 12 May 2012^[18]

References

External links

• Vélez Sarsfield official profile (Spanish)
• Argentine League statistics (Spanish)
• Stats and profile at Zerozero
• Stats at ForaDeJogo
• Nicolás Otamendi at National-Football-Teams.com
• Nicolás Otamendi – FIFA competition record
• Transfermarkt profile

v t e Argentina squad – 2010 FIFA World Cup 1 Pozo 2 Demichelis 3 C. Rodríguez 4 Burdisso 5 Bolatti 6 Heinze 7 Di María 8 Verón 9 Higuaín 10 Messi 11 Tevez 12 Garcé 13 Samuel 14 Mascherano (c) 15 Otamendi 16 Agüero 17 Gutiérrez 18 Palermo 19 Milito 20 M. Rodríguez 21 Andújar 22 Romero 23 Pastore Coach: Maradona