Sergio Ismael Díaz Velázquez (born 5 March 1998) is a Paraguayan 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 a forward. Díaz ranked number one in a list of the most expensive players in Paraguayan football for 2015 published by Diario Extra.

Club career

Youth and early career

Díaz played at Club Tacuary School of Football for 1 year, before moving to Cerro Porteño. Díaz arrives at Cerro Porteño aged 10, at the club's school of football. He scored approximately 30 goals in the Cerro Porteño U15 team and was then moved to the reserves team. He was coached by

Diego Gavilán Diego Antonio Gavilán Zarate (born 1 March 1980) is a Paraguayan former footballer and current coach. Career Gavilán's nickname '' pampero'' – literally meaning the horse or the man that runs like the wind in the Pampa – offers a fair i ...

in the U15 team. In 2013, he was referred to as the Sergio Aguero of Cerro Porteño as the reserves joined in on a practice session with the first-team.

Cerro Porteño

2014 season

Diaz debuted as a 15-year-old in the Primera División Paraguaya, on 27 June 2014, in a 2–1 home victory against Club General Díaz. He entered the field in the 84th minute for

Guillermo Beltrán Guillermo Alexis Beltrán Paredes (born June 25, 1984), known as Guillermo Beltrán, is a Paraguayan footballer who is currently playing for Club Nacional. Teams * Independiente de Campo Grande 2005 * Nacional 2006–2007 * 12 de Octubre 200 ...

. Díaz then scored against Nacional Asunción in September, handing Cerro Porteño the victory. The player scored a double in a 2–0 home victory against 3 de Febrero on 8 October 2014. Against Boca Juniors in the Copa Sudamericana, Diaz wore the #22 jersey. During his performances at the

2015 South American Youth Football Championship The 2015 South American Youth Football Championship (, ) was the 27th edition of the biennial international youth association football, football tournament organized by CONMEBOL for the men's under-20 national teams of South America. It was held i ...

in January 2015, it was reported that both Liverpool F.C. and Manchester United F.C. were chasing his signing.

2015 season

In Diaz's debut for Cerro Porteño in the 2015 Primera División Paraguaya season, he scored one goal in his side's 3–0 away victory against

Sportivo Luqueño Club Sportivo Luqueño is a Paraguayan football club, based in the city of Luque on the outskirts of the capital Asunción. It currently plays in the Paraguayan Primera División, the country's top tier of football, where it has won thrice, in 19 ...

on 14 February 2015. He signed his first professional contract after turning 18 years old and renewed his contract with Club Cerro Porteño until 2021.

Real Madrid

Sergio Diaz is the second Paraguayan to play in Real Madrid preceding Javier Acuña. He played with Real Madrid B at the beginning of the 2016 season. Diaz was included in Real Madrid U19 squad for

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the under-19 teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions Le ...

, making his debut against

Sporting Club de Portugal Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

. Diaz scored the opener for ''Los Blancos'', but Sporting eventually equalized.

Loan to CD Lugo

On 10 August 2017, Díaz was loaned to

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

club

CD Lugo Club Deportivo Lugo is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Lugo, in the autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. Founded on 8 July 1953, it plays in Primera Federación, holding home games at ''Estadio Anxo ...

for one year. He suffered a

knee In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

injury on 16 November 2017, which kept him out for the rest of the season.

Loan to Corinthians

A year later, on 30 July 2018, he was loaned to Brazilian club

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians () is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author, Sosthenes, and is addressed to the Christian church in C ...

, for one and a half-year.

Loan to Cerro Porteño

Díaz returned to

Cerro Porteño Club Cerro Porteño is a professional Paraguayan Association football, football club, based in the neighbourhood of Obrero (Asunción), Obrero in Asunción. Founded in 1912, Cerro has won 34 Paraguayan Primera División, Primera División titles ...

on loan for the 2019–2020

Paraguayan Primera División The División Profesional de la Paraguayan Football Association, Asociación Paraguaya de Fútbol (; "Professional Division of the Paraguayan Football Association"), also known as the Primera División (; "first division"), or due to sponsorship ...

season.

Loan to Club América

On 29 July 2020, Díaz joined

Liga MX Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divis ...

side América on loan with an option to buy.

International career

In January 2015, Díaz was selected to represent Paraguay U20 at the

. The player scored one goal in his debut at the

2016 Toulon Tournament The 2016 Toulon Tournament was the 44th edition of the Toulon Tournament. It took place 18–29 May 2016. The tournament was used by several teams as preparation for the 2016 Summer Olympics. The tournament was won by England. Participants ;AFC ...

for Paraguay U23. Díaz held representative honours with the Paraguay national under-23 squad at the

2020 CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament The 2020 CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament was the 13th edition of the CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament, the quadrennial, international, age-restricted association football, football tournament organised by the CONMEBOL, Confederación Sudamericana ...

Personal life

Sergio is a self-proclaimed fan of the English football club

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, which he in May 2015 described as his dream destination in the future.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

;Corinthians *

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. Run by the São Paulo State Football Federation (FPF), ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Diaz, Sergio 1998 births Living people Paraguayan men's footballers Men's association football forwards Paraguayan Primera División players Cerro Porteño players Segunda División B players Real Madrid Castilla footballers Segunda División players Liga MX players CD Lugo players Sport Club Corinthians Paulista players Club América footballers Paraguay men's under-20 international footballers Paraguay men's international footballers Paraguayan expatriate men's footballers Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Expatriate men's footballers in Brazil Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico People from Itauguá Footballers from Central Department 21st-century Paraguayan sportsmen