Juan Manuel Vargas Risco (; born 5 October 1983) is a Peruvian retired

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 ...

that played as a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. Vargas' previous clubs include

Universitario Club Universitario de Deportes, popularly known as Universitario or simply as La "U", is a Peruvian football club located in Lima. The club was founded in 1924 under the name Federación Universitaria by students of the National University of S ...

, Colón,

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

and

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fo ...

. He played for

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

at international level. His last team was Universitario de Deportes.

Club career

Early career

Vargas received his start in the popular Peruvian team

, where he quickly earned a main spot in the team by 2004, given his great play and his crowd-pleasing goals at key moments. In 2005, he transferred to Argentine club Colón.

Catania

In August 2006, Vargas signed a four-year contract with

. He scored his first goal for Catania on 31 October 2007, in the 88th minute, tying

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...

1–1 and prolonging Catania's unbeaten streak to seven matches. During his two-year stay in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, he was continuously one of their best players and was a first-team regular. His performances helped the Sicilians to Serie A survival for two seasons. These impressive displays led to elite clubs around Europe chasing after the 23-year old's signature.

Fiorentina

On 17 May 2008, it was reported Vargas had agreed to sign for

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

, but on 5 July 2008, he joined

for a fee of

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

12 million. Upon arriving in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, he struggled in the left back position and was highly criticized. However, after realizing his true potential as an attacking midfielder, he became a crucial part of the ''Viola'' squad providing crucial assists, giving the squad great speed and acting almost as a third forward. On 24 November 2009, Vargas scored a critical spot kick goal that advanced Fiorentina onto the knock-out stages 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 ...

. This was the first time Fiorentina made it to the round of 16 in ten years. On the last day of the August 2012 transfer window, Vargas joined Serie A club

on loan for the season, making 20 appearances before rejoining Fiorentina. He scored Fiorentina's goal in their 1–3 defeat to

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

in the 2014 Coppa Italia Final.

Real Betis

On 12 August 2015, Vargas signed a two-year deal with

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 ...

, newly promoted to

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 ...

, after his contract with Fiorentina expired. He made his debut for the club on 23 August, starting in a 1–1 home draw against

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 31 August 2016, Vargas terminated his contract.

Style of play

Vargas plays at left back, on the

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...

, or in the

midfield Midfield is the part of a sports field that lies approximately in the center. In American football, association football (soccer) and field hockey, it is the area in and around the center circle, as well as the players who occupy that region. In ...

, in both

offensive Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

and

defensive Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

positions. Vargas impresses with his ability to

dribble In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. A ...

the ball and make remarkable shots on goal. He is also known for his free-kick ability and accurate

crosses Crosses may refer to: * Cross, the symbol Geography * Crosses, Cher, a French municipality * Crosses, Arkansas, a small community located in the Ozarks of north west Arkansas Language * Crosses, a truce term used in East Anglia and Lincolnshire ...

. His former Fiorentina teammate

Alberto Gilardino Alberto Gilardino (; born 5 July 1982) is an Italian professional football manager and a former player who played as a striker. He is currently in charge as caretaker of Genoa, a club he was contracted with on July 2022 as a youth coach. A p ...

stated that Vargas is probably the best crosser he has played with.

International career

Vargas played his first match with the Peru national team against

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying The 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification competition was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation – the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South Americ ...

, with

Paulo Autuori Paulo Autuori de Mello (born 25 August 1956), known as Paulo Autuori, is a Brazilian football executive and manager who is the current manager of Atlético Nacional. Early life A football fan since early childhood and a futsal player, Paulo Au ...

as head coach. He scored his first international goal on 12 September 2007 in a friendly match against

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

. He was sent off in the

2011 Copa América The 2011 Campeonato Sudamericano Copa América, better known as the 2011 Copa América or the Copa América 2011 Argentina, was the 43rd edition of the Copa América, the main international football tournament for national teams in South Americ ...

semi-final match for elbowing a Uruguayan player.

Personal life

Vargas currently lives with his longtime partner Blanca Rodríguez, and their three children: Luana Mia (born in 2007), Ánika Lía (born 28 December 2009), and Juan Manuel (born in 2011).http://franco461301.blogspot.com/

Career statistics

Club

International

International appearances and goals

''Statistics accurate as of match played''

Honours

Club

Fiorentina *

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

: Runners-up 2013–14

International

Peru national team *

Copa America Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Computer Operator Programming Assistant. trade of ITI * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Asso ...

: Bronze medal

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

: Bronze medal

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

References

External links

* * * *
Argentina Primera statistics
at Fútbol XXI {{DEFAULTSORT:Vargas, Juan Manuel 1983 births Living people Footballers from Lima Association football fullbacks Association football wingers Association football utility players Peruvian footballers Peruvian Primera División players Club Universitario de Deportes footballers Argentine Primera División players Club Atlético Colón footballers Serie A players Catania S.S.D. players ACF Fiorentina players Genoa C.F.C. players La Liga players Real Betis players 2011 Copa América players Peru international footballers Peruvian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Argentina Expatriate footballers in Spain