Federico Insúa (born January 3, 1980) is an Argentine retired footballer who played 14 times for the Argentina national team. Usually a playmaker, he is well known for his vision and technique.

Club career

Early years

Nicknamed ''El Pocho'', Insúa grew up in a middle-class family in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

. He moved to the youth teams of

Argentinos Juniors Asociación Atlética Argentinos Juniors is an Argentine sports club based in La Paternal, Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its association football, football team, which currently plays in the Argentine Primera División, and was reco ...

from the Club Parque youth team, and debuted professionally on November 18, 1997. After five seasons with the club, he transferred to Independiente in 2002. After winning a local championship with Independiente, he moved to Spanish first division Málaga CF in 2003, but after only one unsuccessful season he returned to Independiente.

Boca Juniors

At the beginning of the 2005–06 season, Insúa again transferred, this time to Boca Juniors. He debuted for Boca in a 4–1 victory over Gimnasia de Jujuy. Even though he had a slow start, he succeeded in becoming Boca's playmaker, helping the team to win two league titles and two international cups by the end of 2006.

Germany and Mexico

On July 28, 2006, Insúa transferred for €4 million to German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

side

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e.V. Mönchengladbach, better known as Borussia Mönchengladbach () and colloquially known as just Gladbach, is a professional Association football, football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-W ...

, which hoped to fill a gap in its offensive midfield. The 26-year-old midfielder put pen to paper on a four-year deal. The Argentine international wore the number 10 shirt for Borussia. On February 3, 2007, he scored his first Bundesliga goal in a game against Arminia Bielefeld. After the relegation of Borussia in the 2006–07 Bundesliga, he was sold to Club América (

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

) for US$7.5 million, for four years, with a salary of US$1,875,000 a year. He joined the squad on June 27, 2007. On July 27, 2008, Insúa opened the 1–0 score against Santos Laguna on the first match of the Apertua 2008 season. In early January 2009 he was loaned to Necaxa, but he could not help the team avoid relegation. On July 18, 2009, Insúa was loaned to Boca Juniors for one year. Once the loan finished, he signed with Bursaspor to a two-year deal on June 17, 2010.

Return to Argentina

Insúa returned to Argentina for the 2012 Clausura, joining Vélez Sársfield. With Vélez he obtained his fourth Argentine league title (with three different teams) after helping his team to win the 2012 Inicial, starting all 19 games and scoring once. He also won with Vélez the 2012–13 Superfinal and helped the team to a semi-finalist campaign in the 2013 Copa Sudamericana. In January 2014, the attacking midfielder returned to Independiente when the team was playing in the

Primera B Nacional Primera Nacional (usually called simply Nacional B, (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 38 team ...

. He signed an 18-month contract with the club. He played few matches in the tournament mostly as a substitute and the team was promoted back to the first division at the end of the season. He couldn't gain a single minute of play with new manager Jorge Almirón and in October 2014 he was fired by president Hugo Moyano.

Millonarios

At the end of 2014 Insúa was hired by Colombian team Millonarios to start playing in the 2015 Categoría Primera A season.

International career

Insúa debuted for the

Argentina national football team The Argentina national football team (), nicknamed ''La Albiceleste'' (), represents Argentina in men's international Association football, football and is administered by the Argentine Football Association, Asociación del Fútbol Argentino ( ...

in January 2003 and played for them on a sporadic basis over the following years.

National team statistics

Honours

;Independiente *

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; ), known officially as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Betano for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Argentina and the highest level of the Argentine football league system. Organ ...

(1): 2002 Apertura ;Boca Juniors *

(2): 2005 Apertura, 2006 Clausura * Copa Sudamericana (1):

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

* Recopa Sudamericana (1):

;Club América * InterLiga (1): 2008 ;Vélez Sársfield *

(2): 2012 Inicial, 2012–13 Superfinal

References

External links

* at Fútbol XXI
Guardian statistics
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Insua, Federico 1980 births Living people Copa Sudamericana–winning players Footballers from Buenos Aires Argentine men's footballers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Argentinos Juniors footballers Club Atlético Independiente footballers Boca Juniors footballers Argentina men's international footballers Argentina men's under-20 international footballers La Liga players Málaga CF players Bundesliga players Borussia Mönchengladbach players Bursaspor footballers Club América footballers Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield footballers Argentine Primera División players Süper Lig players Categoría Primera A players Liga MX players Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Colombia Men's association football midfielders 21st-century Argentine sportsmen