Gabriel Heinze

Gabriel Iván Heinze (born 19 April 1978) is an Argentine football coach and former player.

As a player, he operated as a defender, either as a left-back or a centre-back.

He began his career in his home country with Newell's Old Boys and, following attention from various European clubs, the 19-year-old signed for Real Valladolid in Spain, not managing one single La Liga appearance in his first season and also being loaned to Sporting CP in December 1998.

After the 2000–01 campaign, where he appeared in 36 league games to help the Castile and León side narrowly avoid top flight relegation, Heinze moved to Paris Saint-Germain, where he amassed over 100 overall appearances in three years, helping to the 2004 conquest of the Coupe de France.

Heinze first represented Argentina on 30 April 2003, in a friendly away win with Libya.

Nicknamed Gringo, he made a name for himself at Paris Saint-Germain, moving in 2004 to Manchester United and subsequently to Real Madrid, winning three trophies in total with the latter two clubs.

He started and finished his 18-year professional career with Newell's Old Boys.

Heinze played 72 times for the Argentina national team, including at two FIFA World Cup and two Copa América tournaments.

In June 2004, Heinze joined Manchester United for a fee of £6.9 million.

He marked his debut on 11 September with a goal in a 2–2 away draw against Bolton Wanderers, and immediately established himself as first-choice left-back, being regularly lauded by fans with the chant of "Ar-gen-tina!" and eventually voted the club's best player for the 2004–05 season.

The following year, he was selected as one of the three overage players then Argentina U23 won the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

He scored in a 6–0 win over Serbia and Montenegro in the group stage.

On 14 September 2005, Heinze was injured in a UEFA Champions League match with Villarreal and was ruled out of first-team action for the rest of the campaign.

Previously, he had scored two goals in the same competition, the 3–0 second-leg qualifier away win over Debreceni.

Despite missing most of 2005–06 with Manchester United due to injury, Heinze was called up for the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals in Germany.

In the quarter-final clash against the hosts, he started as Argentina lost on penalties.

He made a comeback with the reserve team in April 2006, but a minor injury picked up in his third game back prevented him from making a first-team appearance before the end of the season.

The consequence of this injury was the signing of Patrice Evra, who went on to become the club's first-choice left-back in the following years.

Heinze returned to action for United in 2006–07, and eventually won a place in the side back as a central defender, due to an injury crisis.

After the team had sealed the Premier League title, he was named captain for the last two games of the season, away to Chelsea and at home to West Ham United.

After becoming disillusioned with manager Alex Ferguson by his lack of regular first-team action, Heinze demanded a transfer to Liverpool during the close season.

United rejected the bid, believed to be in the region of £6.8 million.

On 22 August 2007, Heinze joined Real Madrid on a four-year deal, becoming the third United player to join the Spaniards (after David Beckham and Ruud van Nistelrooy), for a reported £8 million fee.

He made his debut on 2 September against Villarreal, coming on as a substitute for Raúl.

Heinze participated in the 2007 Copa América, scoring with his head from a Juan Román Riquelme free kick in the semi-finals against Mexico, a 3–0 win for the eventual runners-up.

On 30 March 2008 he netted his first goal for the Merengues, in a 3–1 home win over Sevilla, and finished his debut season with 20 appearances to help win the league.

Heinze was more regularly used in his second year at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, but the club came out empty in silverware, with the exception of that year's Supercopa de España.

On 30 July 2009, Heinze joined Marseille on a two-year deal for an undisclosed fee, reuniting at the Ligue 1 club with countryman Lucho González.

In his first year he scored a career-best four league goals in 27 matches, as L'OM won both the national championship and the season's Coupe de la Ligue.

On 27 March 2010 he was a starter as his team defeated Bordeaux in the latter competition's final, for Marseille's first major title since 1993; on 5 May, he netted the opener in a 3–1 home win against Rennes, which clinched the league.

Manager Didier Deschamps later described the season's events as an "extraordinary human adventure".

Heinze was again a defensive stalwart in the 2010–11 season.

On 20 March 2011, he scored from a free kick to help defeat his former club PSG 2–1 at home in the Clasico.

On 1 June 2011, it was announced on Marseille's website that 33-year-old Heinze would leave the club at the end of the season.

Heinze joined Serie A side A.S. Roma on 22 July 2011, after being released by Marseille at the end of June.

He made his competitive debut on 11 September, in a 1–2 home loss against Cagliari.

On 19 March 2012, after appearing in his 25th official game, Heinze had his contract automatically renewed for another year.

However, just five months later, it was announced on Roma's official website that he was being released from his contract with immediate effect; the day after his release he joined his original club, Newell's Old Boys, on a two-year deal.

In 2015, he began working as a manager, leading four teams in the Argentine Primera División.

Heinze was born in Crespo, Entre Ríos to a father of Volga German descent and a mother of Italian descent, thus also holding an Italian and a German passport.