Federico Insúa (born January 3, 1980) is an Argentine retired

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played 14 times for the Argentina national team. Usually a playmaker, he is well known for his vision and technique.

Club career

Early years

Nicknamed ''El Pocho'', Insúa grew up in a middle-class family in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. He moved to the youth teams of

Argentinos Juniors Asociación Atlética Argentinos Juniors is an Argentine sports club based in La Paternal, Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its football team, which currently plays in the Argentine Primera División, and was recognized as one of the ...

from the Club Parque youth team, and debuted professionally on November 18, 1997. After five seasons with the club, he transferred to Independiente in 2002. After winning a local championship with Independiente, he moved to Spanish first division Málaga CF in 2003, but after only one unsuccessful season he returned to Independiente.

Boca Juniors

At the beginning of the 2005–06 season, Insúa again transferred, this time to Boca Juniors. He debuted for Boca in a 4–1 victory over Gimnasia de Jujuy. Even though he had a slow start, he succeeded in becoming Boca's playmaker, helping the team to win two league titles and two international cups by the end of 2006.

Germany and Mexico

On July 28, 2006, Insúa transferred for €4 million to German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

side Borussia Mönchengladbach, which hoped to fill a gap in its offensive midfield. The 26-year-old midfielder put pen to paper on a four-year deal. The Argentine international wore the number 10 shirt for Borussia. On February 3, 2007, he scored his first Bundesliga goal in a game against Arminia Bielefeld. After the relegation of Borussia in the

2006–07 Bundesliga The 2006–07 Bundesliga was the 44th season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football league. It began on 11 August 2006 and ended on 19 May 2007. Bayern Munich were the defending champions. Team changes from 2005–06 Three teams from th ...

, he was sold to Club América (

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

) for US$7.5 million, for four years, with a salary of US$1,875,000 a year. He joined the squad on June 27, 2007. On July 27, 2008 Insúa opened the 1–0 score against

Santos Laguna Club Santos Laguna S.A. de C.V. (), commonly known as Santos Laguna or Santos, is a Mexican professional football club that competes in the Liga MX. It is located in northern Mexico and represents the urban area of La Comarca Lagunera, made up o ...

on the first match of the Apertua 2008 season. In early January 2009 he was loaned to Necaxa, but he could not help the team avoid relegation. On July 18, 2009, Insúa was loaned to Boca Juniors for one year. Once the loan finished, he signed with

Bursaspor Bursaspor Kulübü Derneği (), commonly known as Bursaspor, is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Bursa. Formed in 1963, the club colours are green and white, with home kits usually featuring both colours in a striped pattern. In t ...

to a two-year deal on June 17, 2010.

Return to Argentina

Insúa returned to Argentina for the 2012 Clausura, joining Vélez Sársfield. With Vélez he obtained his fourth Argentine league title (with three different teams) after helping his team to win the 2012 Inicial, starting all 19 games and scoring once. He also won with Vélez the 2012–13 Superfinal and helped the team to a semi-finalist campaign in the 2013 Copa Sudamericana. In January 2014, the attacking midfielder returned to Independiente when the team was playing in the

Primera B Nacional Primera Nacional (usually called simply Nacional B, in English "National B Division", and known as Primera B Nacional until the 2019–20 season) is the second division of the Argentine football league system. The competition is made up of 37 team ...

. He signed an 18-month contract with the club. He played few matches in the tournament mostly as a substitute and the team was promoted back to the first division at the end of the season. He couldn't gain a single minute of play with new manager Jorge Almirón and in October 2014 he was fired by president Hugo Moyano.

Millonarios

At the end of 2014 Insúa was hired by Colombian team

Millonarios Millonarios Fútbol Club is a professional Colombian football team based in Bogotá, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the El Campín stadium. Millonarios was initially created in 1937 by students f ...

to start playing in the

2015 Categoría Primera A season The 2015 Categoría Primera A season (officially known as the 2015 Liga Águila season for sponsorship reasons) was the 68th season of Colombia's top-flight football league. The season started on 30 January and concluded on 20 December. 20 team ...

International career

Insúa debuted for the Argentina national football team in January 2003 and played for them on a sporadic basis over the following years.

National team statistics

Honours

;Independiente * Argentine Primera División (1): 2002 Apertura ;Boca Juniors * Argentine Primera División (2): 2005 Apertura, 2006 Clausura * Copa Sudamericana (1): 2005 * Recopa Sudamericana (1): 2005 ;Club América *

InterLiga The InterLiga was a football competition from 2004 to 2010 between Mexican clubs to determine qualifying spots for that country in South America's premier club competition, the Copa Libertadores. Prior to the 2004 Copa Libertadores, Mexican cl ...

(1):

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

;Vélez Sársfield * Argentine Primera División (2): 2012 Inicial, 2012–13 Superfinal

References

External links

Argentine Primera statistics
at Fútbol XXI
Guardian statistics
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Insua, Federico 1980 births Living people Footballers from Buenos Aires Argentine footballers Argentine expatriate footballers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Argentinos Juniors footballers Club Atlético Independiente footballers Boca Juniors footballers Argentina international footballers Argentina under-20 international footballers La Liga players Málaga CF players Bundesliga players Borussia Mönchengladbach players Bursaspor footballers Club América footballers Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield footballers Argentine Primera División players Süper Lig players Categoría Primera A players Liga MX players Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Mexico Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Colombia Association football midfielders