Lucas Martín Villafáñez (; born 4 October 1991) 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 lea ...

who plays 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. ...

for

Super League Greece 2 The Super League Greece 2 () is the second division of professional Association football, football in Greece, serving as a feeder league to the top level Super League Greece, Super League 1. Made up of 20 teams in two groups, it is usually played ...

club A.E. Kifisia.

Club career

Villafáñez made his professional debut 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 ...

with his hometown club

Comisión de Actividades Infantiles Comisión de Actividades Infantiles (English language, English: ''Committee on Children's Activities''), also known simply as CAI, is an Argentina, Argentine association football, football club located in the city of Comodoro Rivadavia, of Chubut ...

, when he was 16 years old. In total he played 57 games with the club, scoring 12 goals. In 2010, Independiente acquired the player on a one-year loan deal. He debuted in the Argentine Primera División on a 0–1 defeat to Tigre for the 2010 Apertura, despite the game being played in February 2011. On 2 May 2011, Villafáñez scored his first goal with Independiente, in a 1–1 draw with

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 ...

. In summer 2013, the hitch that had a contract until June 2014 and would not be taken into account by Miguel Angel Brindisi was asked by Antonio Mohamed after his arrival in Huracán F.C. and eventually would be signing with the "Globe". After several days of negotiation and obstacles, it was finally decided that Villafáñez would go on loan to Huracán F.C. for the 2013–14 season. On 1 August 2014, Villafáñez signed a two-year contract with Greek

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

side

Panetolikos Panetolikos Football Club (), or with its full name officially romanized as Panaitolikós Gymnastikós Filekpaideftikós Sýllogos (''; Pan- Aetolian Gymnastic and Educational Club''), is a Greek professional football club. It is based in Agrini ...

on loan from Independiente, along with his former Independiente teammates

Fernando Godoy Fernando Gabriel Godoy (born 1 May 1990) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who as a midfielder for Club Atlético Sarmiento, Sarmiento. Career Fernando Godoy came having graduated through the youth academy of Club Atl ...

and Nicolás Martinez. In December 2015, Villafáñez was linked with a move to

AEK Athens A.E.K. (; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica. The club is more commonly known in European competitions as A.E.K. Athens. Establishe ...

. On 24 January 2016, he scored with a close-range effort at the beginning of a match against

Veria Veria (; ), officially transliterated Veroia, historically also spelled Beroea or Berea, is a city in Central Macedonia, in the geographic region of Macedonia, northern Greece, capital of the regional unit of Imathia. It is located north-nor ...

which Panetolikos won 1–0 and scooped its first away victory since August 2015.

Panathinaikos

On 27 January 2016, Panathinaikos bought the Villafáñez's playing rights from Independiente, so from the summer of 2016, he would have belonged to the "Greens". Panetolikos, however, wanted to make a profit form the player's transfer and gave him to Panathinaikos from 1 February. On 6 March 2016, he scored his first goal with the club in a 2–0 home win against Atromitos. On 28 October 2017, thanks to a close-range effort by the Argentinian attacking midfielder, Panathinaikos won 1–0 at

derby clash against champions

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

. On 7 January 2018, Marinos Ouzounidis’ team, which had last tasted victory in the Super League back on 28 October with a 1–0 derby win over Olympiacos, finally stopped the rot in the first game of 2018 thanks to a pair of penalties from Villafáñez in a 2–0 win home game against

Platanias Platanias (Greek: Πλατανιάς) is a village and municipality on the Greek island of Crete. It is located about west from the city of Chania and east of Kissamos, on Chania Bay. The seat of the municipality is the village Gerani. Platani ...

. On 14 January 2018, with Panathinaikos in financial difficulties, French website "Foot Mercato" reported Villafáñez had been offered to three

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

clubs, namely

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...

and

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

for the January transfer window on a loan basis till the end of the season with a purchase option in the range of €2 million for the summer of 2018. Villafáñez left the club having 73 appearances (10 goals, 13 assists) in all competitions.

Alanyaspor

On 23 January 2018, Turkish club

Alanyaspor Alanyaspor Kulübü, known as Corendon Alanyaspor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional football club located in the city of Alanya in Antalya Province. Formed in 1948, the club colours are orange and green. Home matches are play ...

initially offered an €800,000 transfer fee to Panathinaikos for Villafáñez. The transfer offer involved two Greek internationals,

Giorgos Tzavellas George Tzavellas, also rendered Giorgos Tzavellas, Yiorgos Tzavellas, or Yorgos Javellas (, 1916, Athens – October 18, 1976), was a Greek film director, screenwriter, and playwright. His filmmaking was particularly influential, with critic Georg ...

and Giannis Maniatis. According to various sources, the transfer could be set in the range of €1.1 million, with Villafáñez agreeing to a 2.5-year contract, with annual earnings levelled to €800,000 per year. After three days of negotiations, Panathinaikos agreed with

for a total transfer amount of €1.2 million. The financial struggling Greens will receive a net amount of €900,000, as Villafáñez ex-club Panetolikos retained a 10% resale rate, while from the total transfer amount Panathinaikos will cover his debt both to the player's rights from Independiente and his annual delayed salary. On 27 January 2018, two days after his arrival, he made his debut with the club as a starter in a 3–1 home win game against Alanyaspor. On 18 May 2018, in the last matchday of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

he scored his first goal with the club in a 3–2 home win game against

Antalyaspor Antalyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional multi-sport club based in Antalya, southern Turkey. The club's colours are red and white. The association football, football side play their home matches at the Antalya Stadium. In Turkey, the cl ...

Morelia

On 3 July 2019, Monarcas Morelia presented Villafáñez as their new player.

Return to Panathinaikos

In July 2020, Villafáñez returned to the Greek giants

Panathinaikos F.C. Panathinaikos Football Club ( ), known as Panathinaikos, or by its full name, and the name of its parent sports club, Panathinaikos A.O. or PAO (; ''Panathinaïkós Athlitikós Ómilos'', ), is a Greek professional football club based in Athen ...

with a two-year deal from Monarcas Morelia.

International career

Villafáñez was part of Sergio Batista's Argentina U20 in 2010. In 2011, he was selected to represent Argentina at the

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members' men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when i ...

. Villafanez also is of partial-

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

descent, expressed his desire to play for

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, through his maternal great-grandfather, who was born in

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; ; , Ancient: , Katharevousa: ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens city centre along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf in the Ath ...

. In 2014, Villafáñez started the procedure in order to claim the Greek citizenship. In December 2017, he was in the final stages for acquiring the citizenship and was to be available for the national team.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Panathinaikos *

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

: 2021–22

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Villafanez, Lucas Living people 1991 births Argentine men's footballers Argentine people of Greek descent Argentine Primera División players Men's association football wingers Men's association football midfielders Argentina men's under-20 international footballers Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games Pan American Games silver medalists in football Pan American Games silver medalists for Argentina Footballers at the 2011 Pan American Games Primera Nacional players Super League Greece players Süper Lig players Liga MX players Cypriot First Division players Comisión de Actividades Infantiles footballers Club Atlético Independiente footballers Club Atlético Huracán footballers Panetolikos F.C. players Panathinaikos F.C. players Alanyaspor footballers Atlético Morelia players APOEL FC players Argentine expatriate men's footballers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus 21st-century Argentine sportsmen Volos F.C. players Footballers from Comodoro Rivadavia