Leandro Rubén Caruso (born 14 July 1982, in

Avellaneda Avellaneda (, ) is a port city in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the seat of the Avellaneda Partido, whose population was 342,677 as per the . Avellaneda is located within the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area, and is connected ...

) is an

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

striker.

Career

Caruso started playing for Independiente's youth divisions, in his native city of Avellaneda. Later, following his brother Hernán's footsteps, he played

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hardcourt, hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and Indoor soccer, indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players ...

Racing In sport, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific goa ...

. After seeing some success, he returned to the big field training with Racing's reserves. In 2001, he started his professional career with

Arsenal de Sarandí An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. He was part of the squad that won promotion to the

Argentine Primera Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

in 2002. He then played for a number of lower league teams in

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 ...

including Pioneros de Ciudad Obregón,

Tijuana Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and < ...

and Real Colima; as well as El Porvenir 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 tea ...

(Argentine second division). In 2008, he returned to Argentina to join Godoy Cruz of the 2nd division, where he helped the club to secure promotion to the Primera. He maintained his good form when playing in the first division, scoring 14 goals in the 2008–09 season. On 9 June 2009

Udinese Calcio Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Football in Italy, Italian association football, football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a ...

signed the Argentine forward from Godoy Cruz on a 5 year-deal, to officially join the club after the season. The deal was made in €4,000,000. Caruso played the last game for Godoy Cruz on 21 June 2009. On 19 August 2009 Vélez Sársfield signed the Argentine forward on loan from Udinese for one season, with an option to buy. Caruso had his first great game with Vélez in the 2–2 away draw against

Unión Española Club Unión Española S.A.D.P. is a professional association football, football club based in the Independencia, Chile, Independencia neighborhood, commune of Santiago, Chile. They currently participate in the Chilean Primera Division, Primera D ...

on the

2009 Copa Sudamericana The 2009 Copa Sudamericana de Clubes (officially the 2009 Copa Nissan Sudamericana de Clubes for sponsorship reasons) is the 8th edition of the CONMEBOL's secondary international club tournament. Internacional were the defending champions, having ...

, where he scored twice to secure Vélez' comeback from a 0–2. The team qualified for the next stage with a 5–4 global victory. On 19 June 2010 River Plate loaned the Argentine forward from Udinese until 30 June 2011. On 12 August 2011, Caruso joined Godoy Cruz, where he spent the 2008–2009 season, on a season-long loan deal.

Clubs

References

External links

Profile
at Vélez Sársfield's official website
ESPN statistics

Argentine Primera Statistics
at Fútbol XXI

at BDFA {{DEFAULTSORT:Caruso, Leandro 1982 births Living people Footballers from Avellaneda Argentine sportspeople of Italian descent Argentine men's footballers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Men's association football forwards Arsenal de Sarandí footballers Godoy Cruz Antonio Tomba footballers Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield footballers Club Atlético River Plate footballers Argentinos Juniors footballers Argentine Primera División players Italian sportspeople of Argentine descent Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Mexico