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

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

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 lea ...

, who played as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

right midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, or

right winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

Career

Castromán began his professional career with Vélez Sársfield in 1997, with

Marcelo Bielsa Marcelo Alberto Bielsa Caldera (, nicknamed ''El Loco Bielsa'' , meaning 'The Madman Bielsa'; born 21 July 1955) is an Argentine professional Association football, football manager who is the current manager of the Uruguay national football team ...

as a coach. His consistent performances in midfield awarded him a lucrative transfer to

S.S. Lazio (; ; ''Lazio Sport Club'') 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 most of their history in the top tier of Italian footba ...

in the Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

, 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 Associazione Sportiva Roma (''Rome Sport Association''; Italian pronunciation: Help:IPA/Italian, ) is a professional Association football, football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier ...

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 Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sport ...

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 (; ), 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 ...

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 Boca Juniors. Playing career Club career Russo was a one club man; he ...

, 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 Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. He acquired the nickname "Spider-Man" for his goal celebration of putting on a mask of the superhero ...

and Marcelo Bravo, used Castromán as a

second striker In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on bein ...

. 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 Club ...

during the aforementioned Clausura tournament. After personal differences with Vélez Sársfield coach,

Ricardo La Volpe Ricardo Antonio La Volpe Guarchoni (; born 6 February 1952) is an Argentine former professional footballer and manager. He is a World Cup-winning goalkeeper who played for most of his career in Argentina and Mexico. As a coach, La Volpe was i ...

, 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, is a professional association football, 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 professional sports club based in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is best known for its men's professional Association football, football team which, since its promotion in 1913 ...

for US$1,050,000. Though not a first choice player in Boca, he was part of the Apertura 2008 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 Racing Club () is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Avellaneda, Argentina. They compete in the Argentine Primera División, Primera División, the top tier of Argentine football league system, Argentine f ...

on 6 February 2009.

National team

Castromán earned 5 caps for

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

between 2000 and 2005.

National team statistics

Honours

Vélez Sársfield *

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

(1): Apertura 2008 *

Recopa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana (), also known as Recopa Sudamericana or CONMEBOL Recopa, and simply as Recopa (, ; "Winners' Cup"), is an annual international club Association football, football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1988. It ...

(1):

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Argentina U-20 national football team *

South American Youth Championship South American Youth Championships may refer to: * South American Youth Football Championship The South American Youth Football Championship, also known as South American U-20 Championship (; ), branded as CONMEBOL Sub 20, is a South American foo ...

(1):

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Castroman, Lucas Sportspeople from Luján, Buenos Aires Argentine men's footballers Argentina men's international footballers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Argentine sportspeople of Italian descent Argentine sportspeople of Spanish descent Men's association football midfielders Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield footballers Serie A players SS 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 men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's 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 21st-century Argentine sportsmen