Roberto Pereyra

Roberto Maximiliano Pereyra (Spanish pronunciation: [roˈβeɾto peˈɾejɾa]; born 7 January 1991) is an Argentine footballer who plays for English club Watford and the Argentina national team. A right-footed player, his preferred position is as a midfielder or as a forward. Due to his versatility, he is capable of playing a variety of positions such as left or right wing, central midfield, attacking midfield or second striker.[3]

Roberto Pereyra

Pereyra with River Plate in 2011
Personal information
Full name	Roberto Maximiliano Pereyra[1]
Date of birth	(1991-01-07) 7 January 1991
Place of birth	San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina
Height	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[2]
Playing position(s)	Midfielder, forward
Club information
Current team	Watford
Number	37
Youth career
	River Plate
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2008–2011	River Plate	43	(0)
2011–2015	Udinese	84	(8)
2014–2015	→ Juventus (loan)	35	(4)
2015–2016	Juventus	13	(0)
2016–	Watford	100	(16)
National team^‡
2011	Argentina U20	4	(0)
2014–	Argentina	19	(2)
Honours Copa América Runner-up 2015 Argentina Team Copa América 2019 Brazil
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:15, 2 February 2020 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 10 October 2019

After beginning his career in Argentina with River Plate, he joined Italian club Udinese in 2011, where his performances earned him a loan to defending league champions Juventus in 2014; he was signed permanently by The Old Lady in 2015 and won two consecutive Serie A titles during his time with the club. During his time in Italy, he developed into a well-rounded, adaptable, and tactically versatile player due to his dynamism, energy, and technique, as well as his offensive and defensive work-rate and attributes.[4] In 2016, he joined English Premier League club Watford.

At international level, Pereyra made his senior debut in 2014, and has since obtained over ten caps; he represented the Argentina national football team at two editions of the Copa América, winning a runners-up medal and a bronze modal in the 2015 and the 2019 editions of the tournament respectively.

Club career

River Plate

Born in San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina, Pereyra began his career within the youth academy of River Plate; due to his origins, he was given the nickname "El Tucumano".[3] His professional career began in 2009 when he made his River Plate debut in the Argentine Primera Division against Huracan at the age of 18.[5] After featuring on 43 occasions for River, Pereyra transferred across the Atlantic Ocean, swapping continents, as he joined Udinese Calcio ahead of the 2011–12 Serie A season.

Udinese Calcio

Officially signing for Udinese on 30 August 2011, Pereyra signed a five-year contract with the Friuli outfit,[6] and went on to make 15 appearances in all competitions during his debut season in Italy. His performances for Udinese during a three–year spell saw him contribute eight goals and seven assists in 84 league appearances, while he also represented the club in 6 Coppa Italia matches, 2 UEFA Champions League matches, and 12 UEFA Europa League games.

Juventus

Pereyra with Juventus in 2015

On 25 July 2014, Pereyra officially signed for, at the time, three-time defending Serie A champions Juventus on a season-long loan deal from Udinese worth €1.5 million, with the option to sign the player outright at the conclusion of the 2014–15 Serie A campaign for an additional €14 million.[7] On the same day, Pereyra appeared for his club in their first friendly match of the season against Lucento. On 23 August 2014, he featured for Juventus in the annual Trofeo TIM. Pereyra capitalised on Francesco Magnanelli’s failed clearance to sidefoot home from just outside the six-yard box.

On 6 June 2015, Pereyra appeared as a substitute for Juventus in the 2015 UEFA Champions League Final as La Vecchia Signora was defeated 3–1 by FC Barcelona at Berlin's Olympiastadion.[8] With 52 appearances, he made the most appearances for Juventus that season across all competitions, along with teammates Claudio Marchisio and Leonardo Bonucci.

On 23 June 2015, Juventus bought out Pereyra's Udinese loan for €14 million, keeping him at Juventus until 2019.[9]

Watford

On 19 August 2016, Pereyra moved to Watford on a five-year deal for an undisclosed fee.[10] According to an official club statement released by Juventus, the transfer is worth €13 million, with a possible €2 million in bonuses, which is to be paid over a four-year period.[11] He was assigned the number 37 shirt for the 2016–17 season.[12] On his Watford debut, Pereyra scored his first goal for the club in a 3–1 home defeat to Arsenal in the Premier League, on 27 August.[13] On 5 February 2018, he came off the bench to score the fourth goal in a 4–1 thrashing of Chelsea.[14]

International career

Pereyra was selected to represent the Argentine under-20 football team at the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup. He played all three group games at the tournament, helping Argentina defeat Mexico and North Korea and draw with England. He missed Argentina's 2–1 Round of 16 victory over Egypt through suspension, but returned to the starting line-up in the quarter-final clash against Portugal, which Argentina lost on penalty kicks after neither team could score during 120 minutes.[15]

He made his senior debut for Argentina on Saturday 11 October 2014 in a 2–0 friendly match loss against Brazil played in Beijing, China after being called up by Gerardo Martino.[16]

Pereyra was a member of the Argentine national team that took part at the 2015 Copa América, winning a runners-up medal.[17]

On 11 October 2018, Pereyra scored his first senior international goal for Argentina in a 4–0 friendly win over Iraq in Saudi Arabia.[18]

On 21 May 2019, he was included in Lionel Scaloni's final 23-man Argentina squad for the 2019 Copa América.[19]

Style of play

Pereyra is a quick, dynamic, and hardworking player, who possesses notable stamina, pace, crossing ability, and vision, as well as good technique and dribbling skills.[4][15][20] A creative, well-rounded and tactically versatile right-footed midfielder,[3] who is capable of using either foot,[15] Pereyra is able to play in several midfield and offensive positions, due to his adaptability, and energy, in addition to his offensive and defensive work-rate and attributes.[4] He is usually deployed as an offensive midfielder in the centre, or as wide midfielder, on either flank, although his preferred position is on the left wing; he has even played as a second striker on occasion, or in a deeper role as a central midfielder.[3][4] Due to his attributes, playing position and nationality, he was compared to the former Italo-Argentine Juventus winger Mauro Camoranesi during his time in Italy.[21][22]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 12 January 2020[23]

Club	Season	League			National Cup		League Cup		Continental		Other^1		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Argentina			League		Copa Argentina		—		Copa Libertadores		Other		Total
River Plate	2008–09	Argentine Primera División	1	0	0	0	—		—		—		1	0
	2009–10		15	0	0	0	—		—		—		15	0
	2010–11		27	0	0	0	—		—		—		27	0
	Total		43	0	0	0	—		—		—		43	0
Italy			League		Coppa Italia		—		Europe		Other		Total
Udinese
	2011–12	Serie A	11	1	1	0	—		3	0	0	0	15	1
	2012–13		37	5	1	0	—		2	0	0	0	40	5
	2013–14		36	2	4	0	—		3	0	0	0	43	2
	Total		84	8	6	0	—		8	0	0	0	98	8
Juventus (loan)	2014–15	Serie A	35	4	4	2	—		12	0	1	0	52	6
Juventus	2015–16		13	0	0	0	—		2	0	1	0	16	0
	Total		48	4	4	2	—		14	0	2	0	69	6
England			League		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Other		Total
Watford	2016–17	Premier League	13	2	0	0	0	0	—		—		13	2
	2017–18		32	5	2	0	0	0	—		—		34	5
	2018–19		33	6	3	0	0	0	—		—		36	6
	2019–20		16	2	1	1	3	1	—		—		21	4
	Total		94	15	6	1	3	1	0	0	0	0	103	17
Career total			269	25	16	3	3	1	22	0	2	0	313	29

• 1.^ Includes UEFA Champions League Qualification and Italian Super Cup.

International

As of match played 10 October 2019[23]

Argentina
Year	Apps	Goals
2014	4	0
2015	6	0
2016	0	0
2017	0	0
2018	3	1
2019	6	1
Total	19	2

International goals

Scores and results list Argentina's goal tally first.[24]

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	11 October 2018	Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia	Iraq	2–0	4–0	Friendly
2	7 June 2019	Estadio San Juan del Bicentenario, San Juan, Argentina	Nicaragua	5–1	5–1

Honours

Juventus[25]

• Serie A: 2014–15, 2015–16
• Coppa Italia: 2014–15, 2015–16
• Supercoppa Italiana: 2015

Watford

• FA Cup runner-up: 2018–19[26]

References

1. "Squads for 2016/17 Premier League confirmed". Premier League. 1 September 2016. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
2. "Roberto Pereyra". juventus.com. Archived from the original on 2016-02-03.
3. Andrea Bracco (5 July 2011). "Roberto Pereyra, nuovi Zanetti crescono..." [Roberto Pereyra, new Zanettis are developing...] (in Italian). Calcio Sudamericano. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
4. "Pereyra, dinamismo e duttilità" [Pereyra, dynamism and versatility] (in Italian). Juventus. 25 July 2015. Archived from the original on 13 June 2015. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
5. "Closing '09 statistics". Argentine Soccer. Retrieved 29 July 2011.
6. "Pereyra Declares...Welcome Roberto!". Udinese. Archived from the original on 29 September 2011. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
7. "Pereyra joins Juventus". Juventus F.C. 25 July 2014. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
8. "Barcelona see off Juventus to claim fifth title". UEFA. 6 June 2015.
9. "OFFICIAL: Juventus exercise the buyout option for Pereyra – The Financial Details – IFD". italianfootballdaily.com.
10. "Watford complete Roberto Pereyra signing". Watford F.C. 19 August 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
11. "AGREEMENT WITH WATFORD FC FOR THE DEFINITIVE DISPOSAL OF THE PLAYER ROBERTO PEREYRA" (PDF). Juventus F.C. 20 August 2016. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
12. Mail, Simon (20 August 2016). "Watford announce squad numbers for new signings Roberto Pereyra and Younes Kaboul". Watford Observer. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
13. Mike Parkin (28 August 2016). "Roberto Pereyra gives Watford hope in mixed display against Arsenal". ESPN FC. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
14. "Watford 4–1 Chelsea". BBC Sport. 5 February 2018.
15. "Pereyra, proven Serie A quality". Juventus F.C. 25 July 2014. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
16. Bloom, Ben (11 October 2014). "Argentina v Brazil: as it happened". The Telegraph. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
17. "Argentina through to Copa America final". Juventus.com. 1 July 2015. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
18. "Argentina ease past Iraq as four players score first international goals". ESPN FC. 11 October 2018. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
19. Avi Creditor (21 May 2019). "Messi Leads Argentina's Copa America Squad; Icardi Omitted". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
20. Cristiano Ciacci (9 April 2015). "L'esplosione di Pereyra: El Tucumano al servizio della Juventus" [Pereyra's Breakthrough: El Tucumano at Juventus's service] (in Italian). Mai Dire Calcio. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
21. Filippo Cornacchia (25 July 2014). "Pereyra, colpo da 17 milioni. "Mi ispiro a Camoranesi"" [Pereyra, 17 million deal. "I aspire to be like Camoranesi"] (in Italian). Tutto Sport. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
22. "Juve, Buffon: "Nessun record è figlio di un singolo, dico grazie ad ognuno..."" (in Italian). La Gazzetta dello Sport. 20 March 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
23. "Roberto Pereyra". Soccerway. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
24. "Pereyra, Roberto". National Football Teams. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
25. "R. Pereyra". Soccerway. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
26. McNulty, Phil (18 May 2019). "Manchester City 6–0 Watford". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 May 2019.

External links

• Argentine Primera statistics at Fútbol XXI (in Spanish)
• Roberto Pereyra at Soccerbase