Lucas Martín Castromán (born 2 October 1980) is a retired

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 ...

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 played as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

right midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, or

right winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Career

Castromán began his professional career with Vélez Sársfield in 1997, with Marcelo Bielsa as a coach. His consistent performances in midfield awarded him a lucrative transfer to

S.S. Lazio Società Sportiva Lazio (; ; ''Lazio Sport Club''), commonly referred to as Lazio, is an Italian professional sports club based in Rome, most known for its football activity. The society, founded in 1900, plays in the Serie A and have spent ...

in the Italian

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 ...

, in 2001. There he became suddenly popular amongst Lazio's fans because of a late equalising goal scored in the very last minute of a derby against cross-city rivals AS Roma that were leading the game 2–1 until then. During his time at Lazio, he was awarded an Italian passport, thus counting as an EU player. In 2003, he was loaned to fellow Italians Udinese before returning to Vélez in 2004. Castromán, a firm favourite with the Vélez fans, reinforced his place in the history of the club by helping the team to win 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 ...

Clausura tournament in 2005 after the club's run of 7 years without a trophy. During that tournament, Vélez' coach

Miguel Ángel Russo Miguel Ángel Russo (born 9 April 1956) is an Argentine professional football manager and former player who played as a defensive midfielder. He is the current manager of Rosario Central. Playing career Club career Russo was a one club man; ...

, seeing the team's position of right and left winger were well covered by

Jonás Gutiérrez Jonás Manuel Gutiérrez (; born 5 July 1983) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He acquired the nickname " Spider-Man" for his goal celebration of putting on a mask of the superhero. He also calls himse ...

and

Marcelo Bravo Marcelo René Bravo (born 10 January 1985) is a former Argentine football coach and former player who played as a midfielder. He is the current manager of Vélez Sarsfield's youth categories. Bravo played 50 games with Vélez Sarsfield, being ...

, used Castromán as a second striker. Castromán played at great level in his new position, and was the team's topscorer along

Rolando Zárate Rolando David Zárate Riga (born 6 August 1978) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a centre forward, and is a sports agent. Club career Born in Haedo, Buenos Aires Province, Zárate spent most of his career for Clu ...

during the aforementioned Clausura tournament. After personal differences with Vélez Sársfield coach, Ricardo La Volpe, Castromán decided it was time to change teams, joining

Club América Club de Fútbol América S.A. de C.V., commonly known as Club América or simply América, is a professional football club based in Mexico City. Nicknamed ''Las Águilas'' (The Eagles), it competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football ...

of Mexico. After only six months with Club América he was transfer listed on 17 December 2007 putting an end to his time with the club where injuries, poor physical condition and poor discipline on and off the field led to his departure. He was loaned to

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in the A ...

for US$1,050,000. Though not a first choice player in Boca, he was part of the

Apertura 2008 The ' and ' tournaments is a split season format for Spanish-speaking sports leagues. It is a relatively recent innovation for many Latin American football leagues in which the traditional association football season from August to May is divi ...

and

2008 Recopa Sudamericana The 2008 Recopa Sudamericana (officially the 2008 Recopa Visa Sudamericana for sponsorship reasons) was the 16th Recopa Sudamericana, an annual football match between the winners of the previous season's Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana comp ...

winning teams. He signed a one-year contract with Racing Club de Avellaneda on 6 February 2009.

National team

Castromán earned 5 caps for

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

between 2000 and 2005.

National team statistics

Honours

Vélez Sársfield *

(2): Clausura 1998, Clausura 2005 Boca Juniors *

(1):

Recopa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana ( pt, CONMEBOL Recopa Sul-Americana), known also as the Recopa Sudamericana or CONMEBOL Recopa, and simply as the Recopa (, ; "Winners' Cup"), is an annual international club association football, football compe ...

(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; ...

Argentina U-20 national football team * South American Youth Championship (1):

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Castroman, Lucas People from Luján, Buenos Aires Argentine footballers Argentina men's international footballers Argentine expatriate footballers Argentine sportspeople of Italian descent Argentine sportspeople of Spanish descent Men's association football midfielders Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield footballers Serie A players S.S. Lazio players Udinese Calcio players Liga MX players Club América footballers Boca Juniors footballers Racing Club de Avellaneda footballers Footballers from Buenos Aires Province Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Mexico Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Italian sportspeople of Argentine descent Italian people of Spanish descent 1980 births Living people Argentine Primera División players Argentina men's under-20 international footballers