Leandro Paredes joins Zenit St Petersburg from Roma on a four-year deal
Zenit and Roma have reached an agreement on the transfer of the Argentine midfielder to the blue-white-sky blues. The player has joined the club on a four-year contract.
Leandro Paredes was born on 29 June 1994 in San Justo, Argentina. Leandro began his career at Boca Juniors and made his debut for the first team in 2010 and played 29 matches for the famous club, scoring five goals. While in Buenos Aires he won the League Title and the Argentinian Cup.
In 2014, he moved to Chievo in Italy, playing just a single game for the club before quickly moving to Roma in the same year. During the 2015/16 he went on loan to Empoli.
In June 2017 he made his debut for Argentina, in a friendly match against Singapore, also getting on the scoresheet. Paredes plays in as a central and defensive midfielder.
Zenit are delighted to welcome Leandro Paredes to St. Petersburg and wish him good luck with the blue-white-sky blues!
10 facts about the new signing:
1. Leandro Paredes was born on 29 June 1994 in San Justo, Argentina. He began playing football as early as 3-years old in local children's clubs, by the age of 8, he joined the academy of the legendary Boca Juniors.
2. Paredes managed to go through the whole Boca system and by the age of 16 joined the club's first team, making his debut that season in 2010. He also played 10 minutes on the pitch with legendary midfielder Juan Román Riquelme, who compared Paredes to himself and dubbed him his "heir."
3. Despite numerous impressive performances, Paredes only played 31 games in all competitions during his 4 seasons at Boca, winning the Argentine championship and Cup once each.
4. Despite Paredes not playing many games, this did not deter Roma, who saw a lot of talent from the young midfielder. Roma loaned Paredes for 18 months with the right to buy.
5. He spent his first six months in Italy at Chievo, but played only one match, by the following season he was back at Roma, playing 13 matches in all competitions in his first season. The young Argentinian's performances impressed the Romans, who completed his transfer from Boca Juniors.
6. After moving to Italy on a permanent basis, Paredes went to Empoli on loan. The Empoli manager believed he was an exceptional attacking midfielder and he played 33 games in Serie A for the club, here he again found himself compared to Riquelme and Andrea Pirlo.
7. The next season Paredes was back at Roma and played 41 matches in all competitions, taking into account the competition for places at Roma (Radja Nainggolan, Daniele De Rossi and Kevin Strootman). He scored 3 goals that season and brought his career goals total to 11.
8. Leandro played for Argentina's U15 and U17 and this summer the 22-year-old Paredes made his debut for the Argentina senior side in a friendly against Singapore, he also got his name on the scoresheet in the 6-0 win.
9. Paredes main assets are his ability to win the ball and accurately pass with vision and distance. He also has a powerful, long-range strike. Due to these qualities, Leandro has earned the nickname "the magician"
10. Over the past year, the Italian press has reported interest in Paredes from Juventus, AC Milan, Liverpool, Arsenal, Leicester, Atletico Madrid and Borussia Dortmund, but the midfielder has chosen Zenit.