Lo Celso, Villarreal’s 39th Argentine

With the arrival of the talented midfielder, Villarreal now have had 39 Argentine players throughout their career

Yesterday, Villarreal confirmed the arrival of Giovani Lo Celso, who joins on loan from Tottenham Hotspur for the rest of the season. Including the midfielder, the Submarine have now had 39 Argentinean players. And that’s beacuse Villarreal and the South American country have always had a very special connection. Dozens of players from Argentina have represented the Submarine throughout its 94 years of history.

The first of them was Salgado, who played for Villarreal CF in the 1959/60 season when the Yellows were playing in Tercera División. Since then another 38 players have played for the Submarine. Players such as Diego Cagna, Martín Palermo, Rodolfo Martín ‘El Vasco’ Arruabarrena, Juan Román Riquelme, Juampi Sorín, Juan Antonio ‘Pizzi’, Gonzalo Rodríguez, Guille Franco and Ariel Ibagaza all played at El Madrigal (now known as the Estadio de la Cerámica). The most recent Argentines are Ramiro Funes Mori, who left the club last summer, and Gero Rulli and Juan Foyth, who still represent the Yellows.

The list of Argentine players to hvae played in Villarreal CF is the following (in brackets is the division the first team where playing in when they arrived)

1. Salgado (Tercera, 59/60).
2. Sará (Tercera, 60/61).
3. Medina (Tercera, 75/76).
4. Vizcaíno (Tercera, 75/76).
5. Miguel Ángel Monllor (Tercera, 85/86).
6. Javier Claut (Segunda, 95/96).
7. Walter Gaitán (LaLiga, 98/99).
8. Diego Cagna (Segunda, 99/2000).
9. Rodolfo Arruabarrena (LaLiga, 2000/01).
10. Gustavo Barros Schelotto (LaLiga, 2000/01).
11. Bruno Marioni (LaLiga, 2000/01).
12. Martín Palermo (LaLiga, 2000/01).
13. Juan Antonio Pizzi (LaLiga, 2001/02).
14. Fabricio Coloccini (LaLiga, 2003/04).
15. Juan R. Riquelme (LaLiga, 2003/04).
16. Sebastián Battaglia (LaLiga, 2003/04).
17. Gonzalo Rodríguez (LaLiga, 2004/05).
18. Juampi Sorín (LaLiga, 2004/05).
19. Luciano Figueroa (LaLiga, 2004/05).
20. Mariano Barbosa (LaLiga, 2005/06).
21. Guillermo Franco (LaLiga, 2005/06).
22. Leandro Somoza (LaLiga, 2006/07).
23. Fabricio Fuentes (LaLiga, 2006/07).
24. Ariel Ibagaza (LaLiga, 2008/09).
25. Marco Ruben (LaLiga, 2009/10).
26. Mateo Musacchio (LaLiga, 2009/10).
27. Damián Escudero (LaLiga, 2009/10).
28. Gonzalo Castellani (LaLiga, 11/12).
29. Alejandro Martinuccio (LaLiga, 11/12).
30. Fernando Cavenaghi (Segunda, 12/13).
31. Héctor Canteros (Segunda, 12/13).
32. Nahuel Leiva (LaLiga, 14/15).
33. Luciano Vietto (LaLiga, 14/15).
34. Leo Suárez (LaLiga, 16/17).
35. Santi Cáseres (LaLiga, 18/19)
36. Ramiro Funes Mori (LaLiga, 18/19)
37. Gero Rulli (LaLiga, (20/21)
38. Juan Foyth (LaLiga, 20/21)