He is the most underrated Argentine player of his generation. Juan Roman Riquelme was a magician with the ball in center of the park. The Argentinos Juniors man was known for his creative passing and sublime technical abilities.
Riquleme plied his trade mostly in Argentina with Boca Juniors in two spells with a short stint in Spain sandwiched between the two. After tasting success with Boca for majority of his career, the Argentine international decided to step up and made a big money move to Barcelona in 2002. But the turmoil at the club and constant managerial changes made his dream move a nightmare. He was soon farmed out to Villarreal on loan.
This where he shone very brightly as he was a constant threat as he combined his creative passing with goal scoring exploits. After two seasons on loan, he made his move permanent to the Yellow Submarines. Alas, he couldn’t make the same impact henceforth as he had issues with the board and the manager Manuel Pellegrini.
He was swiftly farmed out on loan back to his boyhood club Boca. At Boca, he again found his groove and started enjoying hi football. Boca signed him permanently back again in 2008 for a fee of US$15.000.000 to purchase Riquelme whilst Villareal would pay Riquelme's income on behalf of Boca Juniors for the 2007–08, which was approximately €3million, being the most expensive fee paid to an Argentine for its respective player in history.
Riquelme had constant bust up with his team mates, managers or at times with the board. For Argentina, he had a decent career as he represented them at two Copa Americas and in 2006 FIFA World Cup. He tasted some success for the youth teams but was unable to lead the senior team to glory.
Here is his illustrious career in a nutshell.
Honours
Club
Boca Juniors
Argentine Primera División (5): 1998 Apertura, 1999 Clausura, 2000 Apertura, 2008 Apertura, 2011 Apertura
Copa Libertadores (3): 2000, 2001, 2007
Intercontinental Cup (1): 2000
Recopa Sudamericana (1): 2008
Copa Argentina (1): 2011–12
Villarreal
UEFA Intertoto Cup (2): 2003, 2004
National team
Argentina U-20
FIFA U-20 World Cup (1): 1997
Argentina U-21
Toulon Tournament (1): 1998
Argentina U-23
Summer Olympics (1): 2008
Individual
Toulon Tournament: Best Player 1998
Argentine Footballer of the Year: 2000, 2001, 2008, 2011
South American Footballer of the Year: 2001
Copa Libertadores: Finals First leg Man of the Match 2001
La Liga: Don Balón Award (Foreign Player of the Year) 2004–05
Most Artistic Player by Marca: 2005
FIFA Confederations Cup: Silver Ball 2005
Copa Libertadores: Finals First leg Man of the Match 2007
Copa Libertadores: Finals Second leg Man of the Match 2007
Copa Libertadores: Most Valuable Player 2007
Copa Libertadores: Player of the week May 8–10 / 2012
The Best Argentine midfielder by Olé: 2012
The Best local Argentine player by Olé: 2012
The Historical Team for Copa Libertadores of all time
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