Valentino Andrés Acuña (born 27 January 2006) is an Argentine

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 lea ...

currently playing as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Newell's Old Boys Club Atlético Newell's Old Boys () is an Argentine sports club based in Rosario, Santa Fe. The club was founded on 3 November 1903, and is named after Isaac Newell of the English county of Kent, one of the pioneers of Argentine football. A ...

Club career

Born in

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city, located northwest of Buenos Aires on the west bank of the Paraná River, is the third-most populous city in the ...

in the

Santa Fe Province The Invincible Province of Santa Fe (, , lit. "Holy Faith") is a Provinces of Argentina, province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco Province, Chaco (divided by the 2 ...

of Argentina, Acuña began his footballing career at the age of three with local side Bancaria. He joined the academy of professional side

in 2010, scoring a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

on his youth debut against Brazilian side

Botafogo Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood (''bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of M ...

. He signed his first professional contract with the club in December 2022, penning a three-year deal.

International career

Having represented the Argentina under-17 side at the

2023 South American U-17 Championship The 2023 South American U-17 Championship was the 19th edition of the South American U-17 Championship (), the biennial international youth association football, football championship organized by CONMEBOL for the men's under-17 national teams of ...

, where he scored one goal - in a 1–0 win over

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

- he was called up to the squad again for the

2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the 19th edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth association football, football tournament contested by the under-17 national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It was hel ...

. In Argentina's second game of the tournament, he scored as his side went on to beat

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

3–1.

Personal life

In 2014, film director Álex de la Iglesia watched clips of Acuña play on video sharing platform

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

, and chose to cast him as the body-double of a young

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (; born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Major League Soccer ...

in the biopic film '' Messi'', based on the life of the Argentine international footballer.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Acuña, Valentino 2006 births Living people Footballers from Rosario, Santa Fe Argentine men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Argentine Primera División players Newell's Old Boys footballers 21st-century Argentine sportsmen