Juan Roman Riquelme - Biography

Last Editor: shells0819				Juan Roman Riquelme Biography -   Name : Juan Roman Riquelme Date of birth : June 26, 1978 Place of birth : San Fernando, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina

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Juan Roman Riquelme Detailed Biography -

Juan Román Riquelme (born June 26, 1978 in San Fernando, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina) is a football player, who currently plays for Villarreal CF of Spain. Argentine giants Boca Juniors and River Plate spotted him when he was a youth player for Argentinos Juniors. He chose to move to Boca in 1995, as he had grown up supporting them, and they paid 800.000 US dollars for his signature. A year later, on November 10, 1996, Romy played his first professional match (Boca Juniors 2 - 0 Unión de Santa Fe) and two weeks later he scored his first senior goal (Boca Juniors 6 - 0 Huracán). With the Argentine national football team, Romy has played 24 matches, scoring 5 goals. He also won the Southamerican Youth Championship, and the Football World Youth Championship, both in 1997 and with coach José Pekerman. In 2002, after seven successful years with Boca Juniors, the central midfielder was transferred to FC Barcelona for 9 million Euros. Because of the arguably unfair pressure put on him to change the (at the time) struggling club's fortunes, Riquelme was unable to find his place in the team and was loaned to Villarreal a year later, where he currently plays alongside fellow Argentine international Juan Pablo Sorín. Despite his lack of pace Riquelme is regarded as an extremely talented playmaker with excellent creation vision, and, with 15 goals and 11 assists, is often cited as the main factor in Villarreal's explosive 2005 campaign. At the end of that season, Spanish sports newspaper Marcaawarded him the title of Most Artistic Player. As a result of his influential play, he earned a nomination for the 2005 FIFA World Player of the Year award. In an effort to keep hold of him, Villarreal bought up 75% of Riquelme's rights from Barcelona for 5 million euros, and gave the player a 4-year contract. A peculiar contract situation arose when, on December 7, 2005, Villarreal beat French club Lille OSC 1-0 to win its UEFA Champions League group, knocking out English giants Manchester United F.C., and Lille and advancing to the lucrative knockout stages in the club's debut season in the Champions League. Because of a clause in the transfer contract with Barcelona, Villarreal had to pay one million euros to the Catalan club. The contract includes another two one-million Euro clauses; one if Villarreal finishes in one of the top 4 positions of the Spanish Primera Liga in the 2005/2006 season, and an identical clause for the 2006/2007 season.