The story so far

A native of the Tucaman region in northern Argentina, he was offered a place in River Plate’s academy at the age of 14 and later helped the club’s under-20 side to claim the South American title before being promoted to the first-team squad. He made his senior debut against Lanus in December 2012 and soon became a key figure for helping them to the Argentinian championship and Sudamericana Cup in 2014, followed by the Libertadores Cup the year after. He won his first full cap in September 2015, in a 7-0 friendly thrashing of Bolivia in Texas, and at this summer’s Copa America he appeared in three of Argentina’s games. He joined Atletico Madrid mid-way through last season in a reported 8million deal.