Matías Germán Nani (born 26 March 1998) is an Argentine professional

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 le ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Al-Shamal Al Shamal ( ar, ٱلشَّمَال, Ash Shamāl) is a municipality in the state of Qatar. Its seat is called ''Madinat ash Shamal'' and it is considered to be one of the major cities in Qatar, although the population is barely over 8,000. The se ...

Club career

Nani had a youth spell in the systems of Argentinos Juniors and Lanús, featuring for the latter at the

2016 U-20 Copa Libertadores The 2016 U-20 Copa Libertadores ( es, Copa Libertadores Sub-20 2016) was the 3rd edition of the U-20 Copa Libertadores, South America's premier under-20 club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. The tournament, which returned after a four-ye ...

in Paraguay. In 2017,

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

side

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 ...

completed the signing of Nani. He made his unofficial debut for the club in a pre-season friendly win over Pinzolo Campiglio on 11 July 2017, prior to playing again days later versus 1. FC Slovácko. In the following month, on 16 August, Nani was loaned to

Temperley Temperley is a district in Greater Buenos Aires, Argentina, located in the south of Lomas de Zamora Partido. History In 1854 the industrial and textile merchant George Temperley (born in 1823 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England) bought from the M ...

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 ...

. He made his professional debut over a week after during a home defeat to River Plate. He featured a total of fifteen times for them in 2017–18. On 11 July 2018, Nani was signed on loan by

Belgrano Belgrano may refer to: People * Joaquín Belgrano (1773–1848), an Argentine patriot * José Denis Belgrano (1844–1917), Spanish painter * Joseph Belgrano (1762–1823), Argentine military officer and politician, brother of Manuel * Manuel Belg ...

. His first appearances came in the succeeding October against Banfield and Vélez Sarsfield, on the way to nine total matches for the Córdoba-based outfit as they suffered relegation to Primera B Nacional. In July 2019, Nani returned to his homeland for a third loan away from Roma - as he agreed terms with newly promoted Primera División team Central Córdoba. Twenty-three appearances came, as did his first senior goal after he netted in a Copa de la Superliga loss to Newell's Old Boys on 15 March 2020; his last game before the

COVID Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

-enforced break. In October 2020, Nani completed a permanent move back to Argentina with Unión Santa Fe.

International career

Nani represented the Argentina U20s at the 2016 COTIF Tournament in Spain. He won two caps, against

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

in the semi-finals and against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in the final; receiving a sending off in a 3–1 loss.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nani, Matias 1998 births Living people Sportspeople from Córdoba Province, Argentina Argentine footballers Argentina youth international footballers Argentina under-20 international footballers Association football defenders Argentine expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy Serie A players Argentine Primera División players A.S. Roma players Club Atlético Temperley footballers Club Atlético Belgrano footballers Central Córdoba de Santiago del Estero footballers Unión de Santa Fe footballers Al-Shamal SC players Qatar Stars League players Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Expatriate footballers in Qatar