Érik Lamela

Érik Lamela

Lamela with Tottenham Hotspur in 2013
Personal information
Full nameÉrik Manuel Lamela
Date of birth4 March 1992
Place of birthBuenos Aires, Argentina
Height1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Playing positionAttacking midfielder / Winger[2]
Club information
Current team
Tottenham Hotspur
Number11
Youth career
River Plate
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
2009–2011River Plate37(4)
2011–2013Roma62(19)
2013–Tottenham Hotspur38(2)
National team‡
2011–2012Argentina U204(3)
2011–Argentina10(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 25 April 2015.

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 19 November 2014

Érik Manuel Lamela (born 4 March 1992) is an Argentine footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for Tottenham Hotspur and the Argentina national team. He is known for his exceptional dribbling ability and pace and is nicknamed Coco.[3]

Early life

After joining River Plate as a seven-year-old Barcelona reportedly offered Lamela and his family £100,000 a year, as well as a house and employment for his parents, to move to Barcelona, in a similar deal to the one that saw Lionel Messi move to Spain as a youngster.[4] In 2004, a Trans World Sport film crew travelled to Argentina to interview a 12-year-old Lamela who was already making headlines after scoring 120 goals for River Plate's youth side the previous season. In the video, Lamela declares his wish to follow in the footsteps of Diego Maradona and win a World Cup for Argentina.[5]

Club career

River Plate

Lamela made his first team debut for Club Atlético River Plate on 14 June 2009 in a game against Tigre for the 2009 Clausura tournament. He entered the field on the 80th minute, substituting Robert Flores. Lamela scored his first goal for River on 5 December 2010 in a match against Colón for the Apertura tournament. He scored his second goal against Lanús in the final fixture of that Apertura, helping River win the match 4–1.

The midfielder was a regular starter for River during the 2010–11 Argentine Primera División season, playing 34 games and scoring four goals.[6] He helped his team to finish in an overall sixth place that would have qualified them for the 2011 Copa Sudamericana. Due to the relegation format of the Argentine Primera that accounts a team's last three seasons, however, River was relegated after losing a playoff with Belgrano.

Roma

Lamela (r.) playing for Roma against Chelsea in August 2013.

2011–12 season

On 6 August 2011, Lamela joined Italian Serie A club Roma for a fee €12 million, plus €2 million in bonuses, which was activated after his 20th club appearance.[7] Roma also paid an additional €3.2 million to Orel B.V.[8] — plus 10% added value if the player is later sold above €12 million — and €3.06 million in the form of taxes to the Government of Argentina. Lamela signed a 5-year contract worth €1.8 million in gross in the first season, but would gradually increase by €350,000 on 1 July 2012 (to €2.15M), 2014 (€2.5M) and 2015 (€2.85M).[7] On 23 October 2011, he scored his first goal in Serie A against Palermo.[9] Later, he scored goals against Lecce,[10] Novara,[11] and Cesena.[12] Lamela ended his first season at the Stadio Olimpico with six goals in 31 games in all competitions.

2012–13 season

Lamela began the 2012–13 season well, his first goal of the season coming against Bologna on 16 September 2012. Lamela hit a superb patch of form in October and early November, scoring seven goals in six games, including a brace against Udinese in a 3–2 home defeat and goals against Atalanta, Genoa, Parma, and Palermo. He also scored a goal in the Derby della Capitale against Lazio. After almost a month out with an ankle ligament injury, he returned to the field and scored a brace against Milan in a 4–2 victory on 22 December.[13]

Lamela went on to score 15 times in 33 games, putting him joint-fifth in Serie A and second to striker Pablo Osvaldo (16 goals) at Roma.[14] Lamela's and Roma's season, however, ended in heartache with defeat to Rome rivals Lazio in the Coppa Italia final, coupled with finishing sixth in Serie A, meaning that Roma would not play European football for the second consecutive season.[15]

Tottenham Hotspur

On 30 August 2013, Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur completed the transfer of Lamela from Roma for a deal worth an initial £25.8 million, plus up to £4.2 million in bonus payments.[16][17] The fee for Lamela made him the most expensive player in the club's history, breaking the two previous records that had been set earlier in the transfer window, first for Paulinho and then Roberto Soldado.[18]

2013–14 season

On 1 September, Lamela made his debut for Tottenham as a 75th minute substitute in a 1–0 North London derby loss to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.[19] On 20 September, he made his first start for Tottenham against Tromsø IL in the UEFA Europa League, assisting Jermain Defoe for Tottenham's opening goal in a 3–0 win at White Hart Lane.[20] On 22 September, he assisted Paulinho's stoppage-time winning goal after appearing as a substitute in Tottenham's 1–0 win at Cardiff City.[21]

On 29 October, with Lamela having yet to start a Premier League match, Tottenham manager André Villas-Boas said of the player: "He knows he isn’t producing half of what he can produce, but he understands the situation now is that he has to compete for his place."[22]

On 7 November, Lamela scored his first goal for the club in a 2–1 Europa League win against Sheriff Tiraspol.[23] On 24 November, Lamela made his first start in the Premier League as Tottenham were beaten 6–0 by Manchester City.[24] His second start came in a 2–1 win at Fulham on 4 December.[25]

After Villas-Boas was replaced as Tottenham manager by Tim Sherwood, Lamela started in Sherwood's first Premier League match in charge, a 3–2 win at Southampton on 22 December.[26] He made further substitute appearances against Stoke City and West Bromwich Albion, before a back injury ended his season.[27]

2014–15 season

Under Mauricio Pochettino, Tottenham's new Argentine manager, Lamela was named in the starting line-up for the opening match of the 2014–15 Premier League season against West Ham United, making his first appearance of 2014.[28] On 21 August, Lamela appeared from the bench in Spurs' UEFA Europa League match at AEL and assisted goals for Roberto Soldado and Harry Kane to secure a 2–1 win against the Cypriot club.[29] Lamela continued his superb start to the season with two assists in the following League match against Queens Park Rangers in a 4–0 rout at White Hart Lane.[30]

Lamela scored his first goals of the season on 23 October, bagging a brace in an eventual 5–1 victory over Asteras Tripoli in the Europa League.[31] His first goal was an audacious Rabona-style strike from outside the area, the goal being praised by the BBC as brilliant and by ITV as "world-class."[31][32] Lamela scored his first Premier League goal on 20 December, against Burnley F.C. a curler outside the box.[33]

International career

Erik Lamela (4th from r.) lining up with Argentina against Uruguay.

Lamela took part at the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup with the Argentina national under-20 team and scored three goals in four matches.[34]

He made his debut with the Argentina national team on 25 May 2011 in a friendly game against Paraguay.[35]

On 3 September 2014, Lamela scored his first goal for the senior national team, putting Argentina 2–0 ahead against Germany, in an eventual 4–2 win in a rematch of the World Cup final.[36]

International goals

Scores and results list Argentina's goal tally first.
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 3 September 2014 Esprit Arena, Düsseldorf, Germany  Germany
2–0
4–2
Friendly

Career statistics

Club

As of 25 April 2015.[37]
Club Season League Cup Continental Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
River Plate 2008–09 10——10
2009–10 10——10
2010–11 344——344
Total 36 4 0 0 0 0 36 4
Roma 2011–12 29422—316
2012–13 331530—3615
Total 62 19 5 2 0 0 67 21
Tottenham Hotspur 2013–14 902061171
2014–15 2925182425
Total 38 2 7 1 14 3 59 6
Career total 136 25 12 3 14 3 162 31

Honours

Club

Roma

References

  1. ↑ "Érik Lamela". National Football Teams. Retrieved 22 August 2013.
  2. ↑ "Tottenham Hotspur Profile". Tottenham Hotspur. Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
  3. ↑ "¡A Lamela!" (in Spanish). edant.ole.com.ar. 12 June 2009. Retrieved 22 August 2013.
  4. ↑ "Tottenham's Erik Lamela spurned Barcelona as a child". Express. Express. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
  5. ↑ "12-year-old Erik Lamela on Trans World Sport". YouTube. Youtube. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  6. ↑ "Profile". Argentine Soccer. Retrieved 27 July 2011.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Acquisizione a titolo definitivo dei diritti alle prestazioni sportive del calciatore Erik Manuel Lamela" (PDF) (in Italian). asroma.it. Retrieved 6 August 2011.
  8. ↑ "Relazione Finanziaria annuale al 30 giugno 2012" (PDF) (in Italian). AS Roma. 31 October 2012. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
  9. ↑ "AS Roma 1–0 Palermo". ESPN. Entertainment and Sports Programming Network. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
  10. ↑ "Lecce 4–2 AS Roma". ESPN. Entertainment and Sports Programming Network. Retrieved 7 April 2012.
  11. ↑ "Europe close in on AS Roma". ESPN. Entertainment and Sports Programming Network. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
  12. ↑ "De Rossi earns win". ESPN. Entertainment and Sports Programming Network. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
  13. ↑ "Roma 4–2 AC Milan: Ragged Rossoneri leave it too late against 10-man Giallorossi". Goal.com. 22 December 2012. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
  14. ↑ "Italian Serie A Goal Scoring Leaders – 2012–13". ESPN. Entertainment and Sports Programming Network. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  15. ↑ "Roma 0–1 Lazio: Biancocelesti edge dour derby to claim Coppa Italia". Goal.com. 26 May 2013. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
  16. ↑ "We are delighted to announce that we've reached agreement with AS Roma for the transfer of Erik Lamela". Tottenham Hotspur. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
  17. ↑ "Erik Lamela: Tottenham confirm the signing of Roma forward". BBC Sport. 30 August 2013. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
  18. ↑ "Tottenham seal £30m Lamela deal to complete hat-trick of club record transfers". Daily Mail. 29 August 2013. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
  19. ↑ Magowan, Alistair (1 September 2013). "Arsenal 1–0 Tottenham". BBC Sport. Retrieved 1 September 2013.
  20. ↑ "Tottenham Hotspur 3 Tromso 0: match report". The Daily Telegraph. 20 September 2013. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  21. ↑ "Cardiff 0–1 Tottenham". BBC. 22 September 2013. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  22. ↑ "Villas-Boas admits Lamela struggles". ESPN. 29 November 2013. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  23. ↑ "Tottenham's Jermain Defoe breaks club scoring record in win over Sheriff". The Guardian. 8 November 2013. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  24. ↑ "Man City 6–0". BBC. 24 November 2013.
  25. ↑ "Fulham 1–2 Tottenham". BBC. 4 December 2013. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  26. ↑ "Southampton 2–3 Tottenham". BBC. 22 December 2013. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  27. ↑ "Erik Lamela: Injured Tottenham midfielder to miss end of season". BBC. 17 April 2014. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  28. ↑ "Erik Lamela should not be written off on the basis of one poor season". The Guardian. 20 August 2014. Retrieved 23 August 2014.
  29. ↑ "Europa League: Lamela comes to Spurs rescue". Premier League. 22 August 2014. Retrieved 23 August 2014.
  30. ↑ "Lamela shines in 4–0 win". BBC. 24 August 2014. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 "A hat-trick from Harry Kane helped Tottenham thrash Greek side Asteras Tripolis and saunter to a first win in the Europa League group-stage.". BBC Sport. 23 October 2014. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  32. ↑ "Replay: Lamela with a world class rabona". ITV. 23 October 2014. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  33. ↑ Higginson, Mark (20 December 2014). "Tottenham 2-1 Burnley". BBC Sport. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  34. ↑ "Erik Lamela". FIFA. FIFA. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
  35. ↑ "Argentina vs. Paraguay 4 – 2". SoccerWay. SoccerWay. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
  36. ↑ "Argentina avenge their World Cup final defeat with destruction of Germany". The Guardian. 3 September 2014. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  37. ↑ "Erik Lamela". ESPN Soccernet. Retrieved 8 April 2012.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Erik Lamela.