Giovani Lo Celso (born 9 April 1996) 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

central 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 ...

for

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

club

Villarreal Villarreal ( ca-valencia , Vila-real) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's ...

, on loan from

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

, and the Argentina national team.

Club career

Rosario Central

Lo Celso is a youth product of

Rosario Central Club Atlético Rosario Central () is a sports club based in Rosario, Argentina, that plays in the Argentine Primera División. The club was officially founded on December 24, 1889, by a group of railway workers, taking its name from the Englis ...

. He made his league debut at 19 July 2015 against Vélez Sarsfield in a 0-0 home draw. On 28 February 2016, Lo Celso scored his first Rosario Central goal in a 3–0 victory over Colón, netting Rosario's first in the 6th minute. He then went on to score his second of the campaign in a 3–2 defeat to Vélez Sarsfield on 10 April 2016.

Paris Saint-Germain

On 26 July 2016, Lo Celso joined French giants

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

on a five-year deal until 2021, for a fee around the margin of £8.5m. He remained at Rosario Central on loan until 31 December 2016. He made his debut for the French side on 5 April 2017 in a

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

quarter final game against

US Avranches L’Union Sportive Avranches Mont Saint Michel is a French football club based in Avranches, in the department of Manche, and founded in 1897. Since 2014 it plays in the Championnat National, the third tier of French football. The club has been ...

. He replaced

Adrien Rabiot Adrien Thibault Marie Rabiot (born 3 April 1995) is a French professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for club Juventus and the France national team. Rabiot spent most of his career with Paris Saint-Germain, making his debut ...

in the 63rd minute of a 4–0 away win. Lo Celso came on and assisted for

Dani Alves Daniel Alves da Silva (born 6 May 1983), known simply as Dani Alves (), is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Liga MX club UNAM and the Brazil national team. Widely considered one of the greatest full-backs of ...

’ goal in the UEFA Champions League match against

Celtic FC The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a Scottish professional football club based in Glasgow, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. The club was founded in 1887 with the purpose of alleviating poverty in the immigran ...

to make the scoreline 7–1. He scored his first goal for PSG in a 3–2

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Football in France, French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was est ...

win against

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

on 30 January 2018. On 8 May 2018, he scored as PSG won 2–0 against

Les Herbiers VF Les Herbiers Vendée Football is a French football club based in Les Herbiers, Vendée. It was founded in 1919. They play at the Stade Massabielle, which has a capacity of 5,000 people. The colours of the club are red and black. From the 2015� ...

to clinch the 2017–18

Real Betis

On 31 August 2018, Lo Celso joined

side

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

on a season-long loan with an option to buy. Betis triggered this option on 16 April 2019 and Lo Celso joined the club on a permanent basis. During his time at the club, Lo Celso made 46 appearances in all competitions, scoring 16 goals.

Tottenham Hotspur

On 8 August 2019, Lo Celso signed for

on a season-long loan with an option to buy, after a long summer of speculation over his future. He made his debut for Tottenham as a late substitute in the second

match of the season against

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

that ended 2–2, a match notable for a controversy over

VAR Var or VAR may refer to: Places * Var (department), a department of France * Var (river), France * Vār, Iran, village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Var, Iran (disambiguation), other places in Iran * Vár, a village in Obreja commune, Ca ...

and a new rule on handball introduced this season. After three substitute appearances for the club, Lo Celso injured his hip while on international duty for Argentina. After returning from injury, he made his first start for Tottenham, scoring his first goal for the club that kicked off a 4–0 win over

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bel ...

in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

, which was the first away win for Tottenham in six months. On 14 January 2020, Lo Celso scored the opening goal in a 2-1 win for Spurs against

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

. Lo Celso's contract was made permanent on 28 January 2020 with the new deal running until the summer of 2025. In the 2020–21 season, Lo Celso scored his first goals of the season when he netted a brace in the 7–2 win against

Maccabi Haifa Maccabi Haifa ( he, מכבי חיפה) is one of the biggest sports clubs in Israel and a part of the Maccabi association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Haifa which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as Football ...

in a Europa League play-off match. On 21 November 2020, Lo Celso scored his first

goal, 35 seconds after coming on as a substitute in the match against

, which helped secure a 2–0 win.

Loan to Villarreal

On 31 January 2022, Lo Celso joined

club

on loan until the end of the 2021–22 season. On 14 August 2022, he rejoined Villarreal on loan for the

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season.

International career

Due to some impressive performances at Rosario Central, Lo Celso earned a call-up to the Argentina U23 squad for the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

. On 4 August 2016, Lo Celso made his Argentina U23 debut in a 2–0 defeat against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, replacing Cristian Espinoza in the 72nd minute. On 11 November 2017, Lo Celso made his Argentina debut in a 1–0 victory over

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. He started the match and was replaced by Alejandro Gómez in the 59th minute. In May 2018, he was named in Argentina’s preliminary 35 man

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and US doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a team, but smaller than a section." while US Army do ...

for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

in Russia; he was later included in the final 23-man selection for the tournament. In May 2019, Lo Celso was included in

Lionel Scaloni Lionel Sebastián Scaloni (; born 16 May 1978) is an Argentine professional football manager and former player who currently coaches the Argentina national team. A versatile player, he operated as a right-back or right midfielder. Born in Puj ...

's final 23-man Argentina squad for the

2019 Copa América The 2019 Copa América was the 46th edition of the Copa América, the international men's association football championship organized by South America's football ruling body CONMEBOL. It was held in Brazil and took place between 14 June and 7 ...

. On 28 June, in the quarter-finals of the tournament, Lo Celso scored Argentina's second goal in a 2–0 win over

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 ...

, which enabled his team to advance to the semi-finals of the competition. In June 2021, Lo Celso was once again included in Scaloni's final Argentina 28-man squad for the

2021 Copa América The 2021 Copa América was the 47th edition of the Copa América, the international men's football championship organised by South America's football ruling body CONMEBOL. The tournament took place in Brazil from 13 June to 10 July 2021. The tour ...

, which the team eventually won. He also played against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

in the Finalissima, which Argentina won 3–0 at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

, England on 1 June 2022. He was not included in the FIFA World Cup 2022 squad, due to a hamstring injury.

Personal life

Born in Argentina, Lo Celso also holds an Italian passport due to his Italian heritage. His younger brother

Francesco Francesco, the Italian (and original) version of the personal name " Francis", is the most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name include: People with the given name Francesco * Francesco I (disambiguation), sev ...

is also a professional footballer and currently plays for

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Argentina's goal tally first.''

Honours

Paris Saint-Germain *

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

: 2017–18 *

: 2016–17, 2017–18 *

: 2017–18 *

Trophée des Champions The Trophée des Champions (, ) is a French association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Ligue 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. It is equivalent to the super cups found in many other countries. His ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Tottenham Hotspur *

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

runner-up:

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Argentina *

Copa América The Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions The CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions, previously known officially as the European/South American Nations Cup and commonly as the Artemio Franchi Cup, is an official intercontinental football match organised by CONMEBOL and UEFA and contested by ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lo Celso, Giovani 1996 births Living people Footballers from Rosario, Santa Fe Argentine footballers Association football midfielders Rosario Central footballers Paris Saint-Germain F.C. players Real Betis players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Villarreal CF players Argentine Primera División players Ligue 1 players La Liga players Premier League players Argentina international footballers 2018 FIFA World Cup players 2019 Copa América players 2021 Copa América players Olympic footballers of Argentina Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Copa América-winning players Argentine expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in England Argentine expatriate sportspeople in France Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Argentine expatriate sportspeople in England Argentine sportspeople of Italian descent