Jefferson Lerma

Jefferson Andrés Lerma Solís (born 25 October 1994) is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Championship club AFC Bournemouth and the Colombia national team. Lerma has also been used as a defensive midfielder and as a right back.

This article uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Lerma and the second or maternal family name is Solís.

Jefferson Lerma

Lerma with AFC Bournemouth in 2018
Personal information
Full name	Jefferson Andrés Lerma Solís[1]
Date of birth	(1994-10-25) 25 October 1994[2]
Place of birth	El Cerrito, Colombia
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[3][4]
Playing position(s)	Midfielder
Club information
Current team	AFC Bournemouth
Number	8
Youth career
	Atlético Huila
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2013–2016	Atlético Huila	84	(6)
2015–2016	→ Levante (loan)	33	(1)
2016–2018	Levante	56	(1)
2018–	AFC Bournemouth	60	(3)
National team^‡
2016	Colombia Olympic	5	(0)
2017–	Colombia	19	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15 July 2020 ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 19 November 2019

Club career

Early career and Atlético Huila

Born in El Cerrito, Valle del Cauca, Lerma graduated with Atlético Huila's youth setup. After being promoted to the main squad in January 2013, he made his professional debut on 30 March, starting in a 0–0 home draw against Millonarios.[5]

Lerma appeared in 20 matches during his first professional season, as his side finished 13th. He scored his first professional goals on 6 February 2014, scored two goals in a 3–1 home success over Fortaleza, the first of which was the club's 1,000th.[6]

Levante

On 13 August 2015, Lerma moved abroad for the first time in his career, agreeing to a one-year loan contract with Spanish La Liga club Levante.[7] He made his debut later that month, appearing as a late substitute for Nabil Ghilas in a 0–0 away draw against Las Palmas.[8][9] He scored his first goal in the main category of Spanish football on 7 December 2015, scoring the match's first goal in a 1–1 away draw with Espanyol. After appearing in 25 matches for the club, he signed a four-year contract effective 1 July 2016 for a €600,000 transfer fee.[10]

AFC Bournemouth

On 7 August 2018, Lerma joined English Premier League club AFC Bournemouth for a club record transfer fee of €30 million.[11] On 1 September, he made his Premier League debut for Bournemouth playing 88 minutes in a 2–0 loss against Chelsea.[12] Lerma scored his first goal for the club in a 2–1 defeat against Newcastle United on 10 November 2018.[13] He scored on the final day of his first season at the club in a 5-3 defeat away to Crystal Palace.[14] Lerma established himself as a fan favourite player, due to his tough-tackling, no-nonsense style of play, as well as an important part of the Bournemouth team during his first season in the Premier League; making a total of 32 appearances across all competitions and scoring two goals in the league.

On 29th February 2020, Lerma scored his third goal for the club in a 2-2 home draw against Chelsea, meeting a Ryan Fraser corner with his head to make the score 1-1.[15]

International career

In June 2018, Lerma was named to Colombia's 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.[16]

Career statistics

Club

As of 29 February 2020[17]

Club	Season	League			Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Atlético Huila	2013	Categoría Primera A	24	0	2	0	—		0	0	26	0
	2014	Categoría Primera A	37	4	7	1	—		0	0	44	5
	2015	Categoría Primera A	23	2	0	0	—		0	0	23	2
	Total		84	6	9	1	—		0	0	93	7
Levante	2015–16	La Liga	33	1	1	0	—		0	0	34	1
	2016–17	Segunda División	30	2	1	0	—		0	0	31	2
	2017–18	La Liga	26	0	2	0	—		0	0	28	0
	Total		89	3	4	0	—		0	0	93	3
AFC Bournemouth	2018–19	Premier League	30	2	0	0	2	0	0	0	32	2
	2019–20	Premier League	23	1	0	0	—		0	0	23	1
	Total		53	3	0	0	2	0	0	0	55	3
Career total			217	12	13	1	2	0	0	0	232	13

International

As of 22 March 2019[18]

Colombia
Year	Apps	Goals
2017	2	0
2018	7	0
2019	1	0
Total	10	0

References

1. "Acta del Partido celebrado el 13 de mayo de 2018, en Valencia" [Minutes of the Match held on 13 May 2019, in Valencia] (in Spanish). Royal Spanish Football Federation. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
2. "FIFA World Cup Russia 2018: List of Players: Colombia" (PDF). FIFA. 15 July 2018. p. 5. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
3. "Jefferson Lerma | Football Stats | Bournemouth | Age 25 | Soccer Base". www.soccerbase.com.
4. "Jefferson Lerma Stats, News, Bio". ESPN.
5. "Huila y Millonarios no levantaron su juego y por eso empataron 0–0" [Huila and Millonarios did not bring their game up and drew 0–0] (in Spanish). FutbolRed. 31 March 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
6. "Huila gana a Fortaleza y llega al gol no. 1000" [Huila defeats Fortaleza and reaches the goal no. 1000] (in Spanish). Huila's official website. 6 February 2014. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
7. "Jefferson Lerma, nuevo jugador del Levante" [Jefferson Lerma, new Levante player] (in Spanish). Levante's official website. 13 August 2015. Archived from the original on 17 August 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
8. "Las palmas no puede romper el cerrojo" [Las Palmas cannot break the deadlock] (in Spanish). Marca. 30 August 2015. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
9. Jefferson Lerma Archived 16 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine. rio2016.com
10. "Lerma suma 25 partidos y será ´granota´ hasta 2020" [Lerma reaches 25 matches and will be granota until 2020] (in Spanish). Levante-EMV. 20 March 2016. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
11. "Lerma Signs In Club Record Deal". AFC Bournemouth. 7 August 2018. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
12. "Chelsea beat Bournemouth 2-0 to extend 100% start in Premier League". 1 September 2018 – via www.bbc.com.
13. "Newcastle 2-1 Bournemouth: Rondon scores twice as Newcastle record successive league wins". 10 November 2018 – via www.bbc.com.
14. "Crystal Palace 5-3 Bournemouth". BBC Sport. 12 May 2019. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
15. "AFC Bournemouth 2-2 Chelsea". BBC Sport. 29 February 2020. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
16. "Revealed: Every World Cup 2018 squad - Final 23-man lists - Goal.com". www.goal.com.
17. Jefferson Lerma at Soccerway
18. "Jefferson Lerma". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman. Retrieved 14 July 2018.

External links

• Jefferson Lerma at BDFutbol
• Jefferson Lerma at ESPN FC
• Jefferson Lerma at Soccerway