Sebastian Footballer

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JuanSebastin Vern (.mw-parser-output .IPA-label-smallfont-size:85%.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-smallfont-size:100%Spanish pronunciation: [ˈxwan seβasˈtjam beˈɾon];[A] born 9 March 1975) is an Argentine former professional footballer and current chairman of Estudiantes de La Plata,[3] where he had served as Director of Sports.[4] In 2004, Vern was included in the FIFA 100 list of the 125 greatest living footballers, selected by Pel as part of FIFA's centenary celebrations. Vern has both Argentine and Italian citizenship. His nickname is "La Brujita" [la βɾuˈxita] (The Little Witch), a nod to his father Juan Ramn who was known as "La Bruja" (The Witch) and was also a championship winning player with Estudiantes.[5]

A midfielder, Vern's career started in Estudiantes, continued in Argentina's Boca Juniors, and included stints in several clubs in the Italian Serie A (where he won the Scudetto with Lazio and with Inter Milan, and a UEFA Cup with Parma), and England's Manchester United and Chelsea. In 2006, he returned to Estudiantes, where he remained until his retirement in 2014, aside from a brief spell with Brandsen. He announced his short return to first team football would occur in the 2017 Copa Libertadores.

In 1993, Vern signed for Estudiantes de La Plata and in 1995 helped the team to return to the Argentine Primera Divisin. In 1996, he joined Boca Juniors, playing 17 games and scoring four goals, alongside Diego Maradona. He made his international debut for Argentina against Poland in the same year. Sven-Gran Eriksson signed him for Sampdoria shortly afterwards.

But in February 2000, he was under investigation by Italian police for a possible fake Italian passport in order to avoid the non-EU quota. However, the charge was cleared by FIGC in June 2001, because his passport really had been issued by Italian officials and he avoided a ban.[7] However, a new controversy was exposed that Vern and his agent may have used fake documents submitted to the Italian government in order to allege to the government that Vern had Italian descent and grant him an Italian passport, which claimed an Italian, Giuseppe Antonio Porcella was Vern's great-grandfather Ireneo Portela.[8] Manchester United even inserted a clause in the transfer document for a possible ban.[9] In July 2002, he was called to appear before Italy's state prosecutor to answer allegations he illegally acquired an Italian passport.[10] Elena Tedaldi, the agent who helped Vern to get the passport, was jailed for 15 months,[11][12][13] but Vern himself and former Lazio chairman Sergio Cragnotti were acquitted in 2007.[14] It is because Vern also had Italian descent through another great-grandparent and it was Tedaldi who used the fake documents.[15]

There was plenty of pressure on him at the start of his second season at Old Trafford and his performances did improve considerably, especially in the Champions League, where he excelled due to the slower tempo of the matches, scoring four goals, and was at the heart of United's successes in the group stages.[6] However, injury meant that he missed much of the end of the season. Questions over his performance led to an expletive-laden tirade against the media by manager Sir Alex Ferguson in support of Vern: "[Vern] is a fucking great player" were his parting words. "And you're all fucking idiots."[19] However, fans and pundits alike agreed that the signing was an expensive flop.[20] Vern later commented that the reason for his fitness problems and struggles with injuries at Manchester United were due to the less intense summer pre-season training in England.[6]

When Chelsea paid 15 million for him two years on, following the arrival of Roman Abramovich, Vern claimed that he wanted to stay and fight for his place at Old Trafford, but Ferguson was willing to let Chelsea talk to him and he was eventually convinced by then Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri to make the move to Stamford Bridge. His transfer fee to Chelsea was about half that of his record-breaking transfer of just two years before.[21]

The Times listed Vern's transfers to Manchester United and Chelsea among the 50 worst transfers ever in Premier League history.[23] His several big-money transfers made Vern, at the time, the most expensive footballer in history, with a cumulative total of 77 million.

Following his donations to the club's training grounds, Vern was a decisive factor in the agreement with La Plata city hall to update Estudiantes' historic stadium to modern standards. Vern personally engaged then Argentine president Nstor Kirchner to kick-start the negotiations, which had been stalled by La Plata mayor Julio Alak.[25] Vern indicated that he may run for Estudiantes president in the future.

On 26 August 2010, Vern retired from international football.[40] Nevertheless, Vern appeared again for Argentina in the 2011 Superclsico de las Amricas, a two legged, non-FIFA sanctioned exhibition, between Argentina and Brazil's domestically based players.[41]

In December 2012, Vern returned to Estudiantes to work as Director of Sports of the institution. In a press conference, club president Enrique Lombardi stated that Vern would not receive any remuneration for his work at the club.[4]

Vern is the eldest son of former Argentina striker Juan Ramn Vern, who scored against Manchester United for Estudiantes at Old Trafford in the 1968 Intercontinental Cup.[42] He was born the day his father played a derby for Estudiantes against cross-town rivals Gimnasia y Esgrima. As a boy, Vern dreamed of playing for English club Sheffield United, as his uncle, Pedro Verde, played for the club at the time. When his son started to play professionally, his father tried to persuade one of his former clubs Panathinaikos to sign him. However, after a short trial with them, they finally decided that he was not good enough for their team. After his transfer to Manchester United, Vern said, "So there I was hoping to play for Sheffield United and here I am at Manchester United!"[43]

Vern was a talented, complete, influential and versatile midfielder, who usually functioned as a playmaker; he was capable of playing both as an attacking midfielder and in the centre, or even just in front of the defensive line, as a deep-lying playmaker, due to his awareness, ability to read the game, tackle and dictate the tempo of his team's play or orchestrate his team's attacking moves from deeper positions with his passing after winning back the ball, in addition to providing assists and creating goalscoring opportunities for teammates. He could also get forward and score goals and often functioned in a free role in midfield. A strong, athletic, tenacious, hard-working and physical player, in his prime, he was gifted with pace, good footwork and excellent technical ability, as well as outstanding vision, creativity, passing range and possessing a powerful shot from distance with either foot.[6][39][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52] During his time at Parma, he was also used in a more advanced role as a second striker on occasion.[53] He was also an accurate set-piece taker, known for his powerful, bending free kicks with his right foot.[54][55][56]

He is known for his abilities to react quickly and his skills playing both in a defensive and an attacking role. He was referenced earlier in his career by media abroad his native Colombia as a highly rated top prospect in Colombia.[2][3]

On 4 March 2011, Prez made his official debut for Nacional against Atltico Junior, replacing Macnelly Torres in the 86th minute. He would eventually win the 2011 Torneo Apertura with Los Verdolagas, making him the youngest player to win the honour at age 18. The following year, he was part of the Nacional squad that won both the Copa Colombia and the Superliga Colombiana, thus winning every top tier trophy in Colombia before the age of 20.[4]

On 27 July 2016, Prez and Atltico Nacional conquered the 2016 Copa Libertadores. This was his first major title. Before leaving Nacional, Prez had converted himself into one of the most decorated players in Atltico Nacional's history, achieving ten titles with the club.

In September 2018 he was loaned out to Pachuca.[11][12] He made his debut on 26 September in a 3-0 victory against Cafetaleros de Chiapas as part of the Copa MX. However, that ended up being his first and only game for the club and he only made one other substitute appearance.

On 3 January 2019, Prez transferred to Barcelona S.C. of Ecuador.[13] He made his debut for the club on 6 February against Defensor Sporting in the 2019 Copa Libertadores. He later played 24 league games in the 2019 Ecuadorian Serie A without scoring any goals.

Prez first represented the U20 Colombia national team in 2011, where he took part in the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup that took place in his home land. He was then recalled for the 2013 South American Youth Championship, where Colombia eventually won the championship and qualified for the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup. There, Prez would give impressive performances, attracting the likes of top European teams.[16][17][18]

"In European football, I admire ver Banega, Fernando Gago, Sergio Busquets, Xavi, Xabi Alonso and Andrea Pirlo, I am excited about playing in Europe. I want to go there and try to make it, but I am driven by those I grew up with. They had the same dreams as me, but perhaps not the same talent. There's luck involved, but also a lot of discipline. You need that to make the most of the talent you have."

Prez was an amateur footballer, before joining Nacional in 2011, and yet was considered to be a 'pure natural talent' by the Colombian club.[2] He is a well-known versatile player mostly because of his ability to use both feet accurately, as well as carrying 'panoramic vision' as shown through his accurate passing. Despite committing to a defensive midfielder most of the time, Prez has shown that he is capable of shooting with precision from great distances.[22][17] He is often regarded very high by many top teams such as Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain because of his potential, led to being almost being signed by each respective club at one point.[23][24][21]

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