Gastón Brugman Duarte (born 7 September 1992) is a Uruguayan professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

club

Nashville SC Nashville Soccer Club is an American professional soccer club based in Nashville, Tennessee. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team spent two seasons in the USL Championship before joining ...

Club career

Early career

Born in Rosario, Uruguay, Brugman began playing football in

Peñarol Club Atlético Peñarol (), more commonly referred to as Peñarol, is a Uruguayan professional football club based in Montevideo. The club currently competes in the Uruguayan Primera División, the highest tier in Uruguayan football. The nam ...

's youth system. He moved to Italy to join

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno River, Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Ancient Ro ...

in 2011. He made his debut in Empoli's 0–1 defeat to

Modena Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025. A town, and seat of an archbis ...

coming on as 58th-minute substitute replacing Riccardo Nardini.

Pescara and loans

In summer 2012, he moved to

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club

Pescara Pescara (; ; ) is the capital city of the province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo Regions of Italy, region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 118,657 (January 1, 2023) residents (and approximately 350,000 including the surround ...

. The following January, he was loaned to

Grosseto Grosseto () is a city and a ''comune'' in the central Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of the province of Grosseto and the main city of the Maremma region. The city lies from the Tyrrhenian Sea, at the centre of an alluvial plain on the ...

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

. In the 2013–14 season, coach

Pasquale Marino Pasquale Marino (born 13 July 1962) is an Italian football manager and former player, currently in charge of club Salernitana. Playing career A midfielder, Marino started for his home team, Marsala. Marino never played in divisions higher than ...

made him a regular starter at Pescara, who had been relegated to Serie B. Having further blossomed under coach

Serse Cosmi Serse Cosmi (born 5 May 1958) is an Italian football coach, most recently in charge of Rijeka. Career Early career Cosmi was born in 1958 in Ponte San Giovanni, a Perugia ''frazione''. His father, a cycling fan, called him Serse after Fausto ...

, Brugman's play was likened to that of

Andrea Pirlo Andrea Pirlo (; born 19 May 1979) is an Italian association football, football manager (association football), manager and former professional player. Considered one of the greatest Midfielder (association football)#Deep-lying playmaker, mi ...

and former Pescara player

Marco Verratti Marco Verratti (; born 5 November 1992) is an Italian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Qatar Stars League club Al-Arabi SC (Qatar), Al-Arabi. A technically gifted playmaker, Verratti began his ...

. In summer 2014, he was close to a transfer to

Villarreal Villarreal (officially, in ) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's capital ( ...

, which was canceled due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

Palermo

On 10 July 2015, he moved on loan to

club

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

, with a buyout clause.

Parma

On 1 August 2019, Serie A side

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

announced the signing of Brugman on a season-long loan with an obligation to buy.

Loan to Real Oviedo

On 1 September 2021, he joined Spanish club

Oviedo Oviedo () or Uviéu (Asturian language, Asturian: ) is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains th ...

on loan.

LA Galaxy

On 6 July 2022, Brugman joined

club

LA Galaxy The Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Gal ...

on a three-and-a-half-year contract. He was the

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

MLS Cup 2024 MLS Cup 2024 was the 29th edition of the MLS Cup, the championship match of Major League Soccer (MLS), the top-flight association football, soccer league in the United States and Canada. The match was played on December 7, 2024, at Dignity Health ...

, providing the assist on the opening goal scored by Joseph Paintsil.

Nashville SC

On 19 December 2024, Brugman was traded to

club

International career

In November 2009, he made his debut for Uruguay U17 in a match against Spain U17, which Spain won on penalties.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

LA Galaxy *

MLS Cup MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Playoffs. The game is held in November or December and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Confere ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Western Conference (MLS) The Western Conference is one of Major League Soccer's two conferences, along with the Eastern Conference. The division of the conferences broadly follows the path of the Mississippi River from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, with club ...

Individual * MLS Cup MVP:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brugman, Gaston Living people 1992 births People from Rosario, Uruguay Footballers from Colonia Department Men's association football midfielders Uruguayan men's footballers Uruguay men's youth international footballers Uruguayan expatriate men's footballers Peñarol players Empoli FC players Delfino Pescara 1936 players US Grosseto 1912 players Palermo FC players Parma Calcio 1913 players LA Galaxy players Nashville SC players Serie A players Serie B players Real Oviedo players Segunda División players Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Italy Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Spain Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in the United States Major League Soccer players