Juan Sebastián Verón

Argentine midfielder, FIFA 100 legend, and chairman of Estudiantes.

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Juan Sebastián Verón (born 9 March 1975) is an Argentine former professional footballer and current chairman of Estudiantes de La Plata, where he had served as Director of Sports. In 2004, Verón was included in the FIFA 100 list of the 125 greatest living footballers, selected by Pelé as part of FIFA's centenary celebrations. Verón has both Argentine and Italian citizenship. His nickname is 'La Brujita' (The Little Witch), a nod to his father Juan Ramón who was known as 'La Bruja' (The Witch) and was also a championship winning player with Estudiantes.

Quick Facts

Born: 9 March 1975
Birthplace: La Plata, Argentina
Height: 1.86 m / 6 ft 1 in
Position: Midfielder

Lore & Background

A midfielder, Verón's career started in Estudiantes, continued in Argentina's Boca Juniors, and included stints in several clubs in the Italian Serie A (where he won the Scudetto with Lazio and with Inter Milan, and a UEFA Cup with Parma), and England's Manchester United and Chelsea. In 2006, he returned to Estudiantes, where he remained until his retirement in 2014, aside from a brief spell with Brandsen. He announced his short return to first team football would occur in the 2017 Copa Libertadores. At international level, Verón obtained 72 caps for Argentina between 1996 and 2010, scoring nine goals. He represented his nation at three FIFA World Cups, and 2007 Copa América.

Reader's Guide

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

In 1998, after playing for Argentina at the 1998 World Cup, he signed for Parma for £15 million. The following year, Parma won the Coppa Italia and the UEFA Cup. Eriksson then signed him again, this time for Lazio in an £18.1 million deal. 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, as he scored eight goals. In February 2000, he was under investigation by Italian police for a possible fake Italian passport, but the charge was cleared by FIGC in June 2001. In July 2002, he was called to appear before Italy's state prosecutor to answer allegations he illegally acquired an Italian passport. Elena Tedaldi, the agent who helped Verón to get the passport, was jailed for 15 months, but Verón himself and former Lazio chairman Sergio Cragnotti were acquitted in 2007.

After the 2000–01 season, he moved from Lazio to Manchester United on 12 July for a fee of £28.1 million on a five-year deal, the most expensive transfer in English football at that time. When Chelsea paid £15 million for him two years on, 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 manager Claudio Ranieri to make the move to Stamford Bridge.

When José Mourinho took over as Chelsea manager the following season, Verón was loaned out to Inter Milan initially for 2004–05, but he subsequently returned to Inter on loan for a further season. With Inter, he was part of the squad that won the 2005 Coppa Italia, 2006 Coppa Italia, 2005 Supercoppa Italiana and also by default the 2006 Serie A title after Juventus were stripped of the title for a match fixing scandal. In mid-2006, Verón made it known that he wished to return to his native Argentina for the 2006–07 season.