Juan Manuel Iturbe Arévalo (born 4 June 1993) is a Paraguayan professional footballer who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for Greek

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club Aris and the Paraguay national team. Iturbe represented the Paraguay national team in a friendly match in 2009. After the friendly, he declared his intention to play for Argentina, his country of birth, and did so at under-20 level. However, in early 2016 Iturbe expressed his desire to once again represent Paraguay, his parents' country of origin.

Club career

Sportivo Trinidense

At the age of 12, Iturbe made his first-team debut for Sportivo Trinidense in the 2006 Paraguayan Division Intermedia. He scored his first goal for the club in the 35th minute of a 1–0 away victory against Choré Central on 7 May 2006. Sportivo Trinidense finished in second position of the Division Intermedia table and were promoted to the Primera División Paraguaya for the 2007 season.

Cerro Porteño

Iturbe debuted for Cerro Porteño on 28 June 2009 at the age of 16 in a game against Libertad, the 21st week of the Paraguayan Primera División. Being 17 years of age, Iturbe was not under professional contract with Cerro Porteño, therefore, he trained with Quilmes of the

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; en, "First Division"), known officialy as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Binance for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in Argentina, organised by the Argentine Football Association (AFA). Th ...

. In January 2011, Iturbe confirmed he was signing with Portuguese club Porto and would join the team when he turned 18. After agreeing on the move, he returned to Cerro Porteño in February, where he remained until his 18th birthday in June. He scored a brace in his first

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

game shortly after that.

Porto

On 10 December 2011, Iturbe made his debut for Porto, coming in added time in place of

Hulk The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of ''The Incredible Hulk (comic book), The Incredible Hulk' ...

in a 2–1

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

win at

Beira-Mar Sport Clube Beira-Mar () is a Portuguese sports club based in Aveiro, Portugal. Its football team currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth national level, having gained promotion by winning the Aveiro FA First Division 2018/19 ...

, the first of four appearances off the bench in a title-winning season. On 3 November 2012, he scored his only goal in Portugal, the sole goal of the reserves' home win over their Marítimo equivalents. It was confirmed on 29 December 2012 that Iturbe had joined River Plate on a six-month loan.

Hellas Verona

His impressive spell with River Plate helped Iturbe secure an initial loan move to Serie A club Hellas Verona where he thrived during the 2013–14 season, so much so he was signed permanently from Porto for €15 million in May 2014. Iturbe contributed eight goals and four assists to the newly-promoted club, helping them to a 10th place finish.

Roma

On 16 July 2014, just weeks after signing permanently for Verona, Serie A giants

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

announced the signing of Iturbe for €22 million with performance-based add-ons up to €2.5 million. The player signed a five-year contract, ending on 30 June 2019. Iturbe's first goal for Roma was against CSKA Moscow in the

2014–15 UEFA Champions League The 2014–15 UEFA Champions League was the 60th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 23rd season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. The final was pl ...

, which ended in a 5–1 victory. He also scored against

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

and a vital goal in the '' Derby della Capitale'' against Lazio, which helped Roma to stay in second position and gave Roma a direct start in the Champions League in the next year.

AFC Bournemouth (loan)

On 1 January 2016, Iturbe joined Premier League side

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...

on loan for the remainder of the 2015–16 season, making just two appearances.

Torino (loan)

On 4 January 2017, it was announced that Iturbe had joined Torino on loan with a buying option.

Tijuana (loan) and Pumas UNAM

On 21 August 2017, Iturbe was loaned to

Liga MX The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in a ...

side Club Tijuana until 30 June 2018. Due to "sporting targets" that were reached during the season, Tijuana had to make the transfer permanent. They then sent Iturbe to Pumas in a swap deal.

Aris

On 7 August 2021, Aris officially announced the signing of Iturbe on a two-year deal. Iturbe had to wait until February to score his first league goal, when he sealed a 3-0 home win against

Atromitos Atromitos (Greek: Ατρόμητος, "fearless") may refer to: * Atromitos F.C., a football team based in Peristeri, Athens, Greece * Atromitos Piraeus, a football team based in Piraeus, Athens, Greece * Atromitos Yeroskipou, a football team curr ...

International career

Having spent most of his life in Paraguay, Iturbe began his international career in the youth setup of Paraguay. In October 2009, he was called up to the Paraguay national team by coach

Gerardo Martino Gerardo Daniel "Tata" Martino (born 20 November 1962) is an Argentine professional football manager and former player. Martino played mostly for Newell's Old Boys in his native Rosario. He holds the record of appearances with the team playing a ...

at the age of 16 for a friendly against Chile in November.{{in lang, es}
Tata Martino convoca a 20 jugadores para el amistoso – Ultima Hora
/ref> Iturbe was substituted onto the field in the 73rd minute of the match for

Juan Rodrigo Rojas Juan Rodrigo Rojas Avelar (born 9 April 1988 in Fernando de la Mora, Paraguay, Fernando de la Mora) is a Paraguayan professional Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for Club Olimpia. On 19 July 2015, List of newspapers i ...

as Paraguay were defeated 2–1 on 4 November 2009. As this had not been a competitive game, Iturbe was able to change allegiances if so wished. He later fell out with the management in Paraguay and declared his allegiance for Argentina.{{cite web, url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/timvickery/2011/02/debutants_catch_the_eye_in_lib.html, title=BBC - Tim Vickery: Debutants in the Libertadores spotlight In early 2016, however, Iturbe expressed his desire to once more represent Paraguay. On 8 March 2016, he was called up for the

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia qualifying automatically as hosts. All 210 ...

matches against Ecuador and Brazil. He made his competitive debut with Paraguay on 29 March as a substitute in the second half of the match against Brazil, making him cap-tied to Paraguay. He was named to Paraguay's squad for the Copa América Centenario that summer.

Style of play

The media once dubbed Iturbe the "new Lionel Messi", given their many similarities: like Messi, Iturbe possesses a low centre of gravity, significant speed, and excellent close control, and has been described as "a left-footed, technically gifted Argentine – but nowadays representing Paraguay –

of diminutive stature who is agile and quick on the ball and who possesses an eye for goal." A versatile, well-rounded, and creative attacking player, who is known for his ability to link up the midfield with the attack, he is capable of playing as a winger on either flank, in the centre as an attacking midfielder, or as a second striker, although his preferred role is as an outside forward on the right side of the pitch. He has also been used as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

or centre-forward on occasion. Regarded as a promising young player, he is known in particular for his dribbling skills, pace, and powerful striking ability.

Career statistics

{{updated, match played 2 June 2022{{cite web, title=J. ITURBE, url=https://int.soccerway.com/players/juan-manuel-iturbe-arevalo/169093/, website=Soccerway, access-date=1 January 2016 {, class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" , + Appearances and goals by club, season and competition , - !rowspan="2", Club !rowspan="2", Season !colspan="3", League !colspan="2", Cup !colspan="2", Continental !colspan="2", Total , - !Division!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals , - , rowspan="4", Cerro Porteño ,

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, rowspan="3", Paraguayan Primera División , 4, , 0, , 0, , 0, , colspan="2", —, , 4, , 0 , - ,

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, 3, , 0, , 0, , 0, , colspan="2", —, , 3, , 0 , - ,

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

, 15, , 3, , 0, , 0, , 8, , 2, , 23, , 5 , - !colspan="2", Total !22!!3!!0!!0!!8!!2!!30!!5 , - , rowspan="4", Porto , 2011–12 , rowspan="3",

, 4, , 0, , 2, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 6, , 0 , - ,

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, 1, , 0, , 1, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 2, , 0 , - , 2013–14 , 1, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 1, , 0 , - !colspan="2", Total !6!!0!!3!!0!!0!!0!!9!!0 , - , Porto B ,

, Segunda Liga , 6, , 1, , 0, , 0, , colspan="2", —, , 6, , 1 , - , River Plate (loan) ,

, 17, , 3, , 0, , 0, , colspan="2", —, , 17, , 3 , - , Hellas Verona , 2013–14 , Serie A , 33, , 8, , 0, , 0, , colspan="2", —, , 33, , 8 , - , rowspan="4",

, 2014–15 , rowspan="3", Serie A , 27, , 2, , 1, , 1, , 9, , 1, , 37, , 4 , - , 2015–16 , 12, , 1, , 1, , 0, , 6, , 0, , 19, , 1 , - , 2016–17 , 5, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 7, , 0, , 12, , 0 , - !colspan="2", Total !44!!3!!2!!1!!22!!1!!68!!5 , - ,

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

(loan) , 2015–16 , Premier League , 2, , 0, , 2, , 0, , colspan="2", —, , 4, , 0 , - , Torino (loan) , 2016–17 , Serie A , 16, , 1, , 1, , 0, , colspan="2", —, , 17, , 1 , - , Tijuana (loan) , 2017–18 ,

, 2, , 0, , 1, , 0, , colspan="2", —, , 3, , 0 , - , rowspan="4", Pumas , 2018–19 , rowspan="3", Liga MX , 29, , 4, , 9, , 4, , colspan="2", —, , 38, , 8 , - , 2019–20 , 18, , 2, , 2, , 0, , colspan="2", —, , 20, , 2 , - ,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, 35, , 2, , 0, , 0, , colspan="2", —, , 35, , 2 , - !colspan="2", Total !82!!8!!11!!4!!0!!0!!93!!12 , - , Pachuca (loan) , 2019–20 , Liga MX , 4, , 0, , 2, , 0, , colspan="2", —, , 6, , 0 , - , Aris , 2021–22 ,

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

, 33, , 1, , 4, , 1, , colspan="2", —, , 37, , 2 , - !colspan="3", Career total !267!!28!!24!!6!!30!!3!!321!!37

References

{{Reflist

External links