Juan Sebastián Verón

Juan Sebastián Verón

Personal information
Full name	Juan Sebastián Verón
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Estudiantes
Number	11

Juan Sebastián Verón (born March 9, 1975 in La Plata) is an Argentine professional football player who plays as a midfielder. He is currently on the roster of Estudiantes de La Plata, being legally a free agent after the expiration of his contract with Chelsea. Verón played most successfully at Italian clubs Parma A.C. and S.S. Lazio with whom he won the UEFA Cup (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 both Argentine and Italian citizenship.

His nickname is La Brujita (Little Witch), a nod to his father Juan Ramón Verón, who was known as La Bruja (The Witch) and was also a championship winning player with Estudiantes.

Biography

Verón is the firstborn son of former Argentina striker Juan Ramón Verón, 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.

Argentine national team

Verón was summoned for the 1998 World Cup held in France. 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 local league. He was a starter in the Argentine team that reached the final of Copa América 2007.

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.

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 manager 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.

The Times listed Verón's transfer to Chelsea amongst the 50 worst transfers ever in Premiership history. His 4 big money transfers made Verón the most expensive footballer in history with a total of £77m. This was surpassed when Nicolas Anelka transferred to Chelsea in 2008 taking his tally to £85 million.

Second Italian tour

When José Mourinho took over as manager following the season, Verón was loaned out to Inter for the 2004-05 season, and from 24 June 2005 he subsequently returned to Inter on loan for a further two seasons. With Inter, he won the 2005 and 2006 Coppa Italia, and also won the 2006 Serie A title after Juventus were stripped of the title for a match fixing scandal. After his problems with the quick pace of the English Premier League, Verón adapted better to the slow tempo of the Italian game.

Returning home

In mid-2006, Verón made it known that he wished to return to Argentina for the 2006-2007 season. He received offers from Boca Juniors and River Plate, but chose 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). Chelsea agreed to loan Verón to Estudiantes for a season, until the end of his contract with the English club. 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.

Verón has indicated that he may run for the presidency of Estudiantes in the future, a wish supported by most fans. After his donation to the training grounds, he also was a decisive factor in the agreement with the La Plata city hall to rebuild Estudiantes' historic stadium to modern standards. Verón personally engaged Argentine president Néstor Kirchner to kick-start the negotiations, which had been stalled by La Plata mayor Julio Alak.

Verón suffered from a string of minor injuries after his return from the 2007 Copa América, and played very little for Estudiantes during the first part of the 2007/08 season, in which the club was eliminated from the Copa Sudamericana in the first round and finished in sixth position after a strong finish.

In July 2007, Kevin Payne, president of MLS club DC United, met with Verón in Buenos Aires to discuss a possible transfer. Even though a significant offer was made, and contacts were made during the ensuing months, Verón decided to stay in Estudiantes .

In early 2008, several football personalities chose Verón as the best player in the Argentine league .

Mohammed Khalil

External links

• Soccerbase - English and European statistics
• ArgentineSoccer - Argentine statistics