Lucas Martín Villafáñez (; born 4 October 1991) is an

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish ( masculine) or ( feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines ...

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 ...

who plays as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus official ...

club

APOEL APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...

. He plays mainly as an

but also can play as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Club career

Villafáñez made his professional debut in the

Primera B Nacional Primera Nacional (usually called simply Nacional B, in English "National B Division", and known as Primera B Nacional until the 2019–20 season) is the second division of the Argentine football league system. The competition is made up of 37 tea ...

with his hometown club

Comisión de Actividades Infantiles Comisión de Actividades Infantiles (English: ''Committee on Children's Activities''), also known simply as CAI, is an Argentine football club located in the city of Comodoro Rivadavia, of Chubut Province. The team plays in Torneo Argentino A. ...

, when he was 16 years old. In total he played 57 games with the club, scoring 12 goals. In 2010, Independiente acquired the player on a one-year loan deal. He debuted in the Argentine Primera División on a 0–1 defeat to Tigre for the 2010 Apertura, despite the game being played in February 2011. On 2 May 2011, Villafáñez scored his first goal with Independiente, in a 1–1 draw with

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in the A ...

. In summer 2013, the hitch that had a contract until June 2014 and would not be taken into account by Miguel Angel Brindisi was asked by Antonio Mohamed after his arrival in Huracán F.C. and eventually would be signing with the "Globe". After several days of negotiation and obstacles, it was finally decided that Villafáñez would go on loan to Huracán F.C. for the 2013–14 season. On 1 August 2014, Villafáñez signed a two-year contract with Greek

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of ...

side

Panetolikos Panetolikos Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Παναιτωλικός), or with its full name Panetolikós Yimnastikós Filekpedeftikós Síllogos ( el, Παναιτωλικός Γυμναστικός Φιλεκπαιδευτικός Σύλλογος'' ...

on loan from Independiente, along with his former Independiente teammates

Fernando Godoy Fernando Godoy (born 1 May 1990) is an Argentine professional footballer who as a midfielder for Huracán, on loan from Sol de América. Career Fernando Godoy came having graduated through the youth academy of Independiente and making his firs ...

and Nicolás Martinez. In December 2015, Villafáñez was linked with a move to

AEK Athens A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelf ...

. On 24 January 2016, he scored with a close-range effort at the beginning of a match against

Veria Veria ( el, Βέροια or Βέρροια), officially transliterated Veroia, historically also spelled Berea or Berœa, is a city in Central Macedonia, in the geographic region of Macedonia, northern Greece, capital of the regional unit of ...

which Panetolikos won 1–0 and scooped its first away victory since August 2015.

Panathinaikos

On 27 January 2016,

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

bought the Villafáñez's playing rights from Independiente, so from the summer of 2016, he would have belonged to the "Greens". Panetolikos, however, wanted to make a profit form the player's transfer and gave him to Panathinaikos from 1 February. On 6 March 2016, he scored his first goal with the club in a 2–0 home win against

Atromitos Atromitos (Greek: Ατρόμητος, "fearless") may refer to: * Atromitos F.C., a football team based in Peristeri, Athens, Greece * Atromitos Piraeus, a football team based in Piraeus, Athens, Greece * Atromitos Yeroskipou Atromitos Yeroskip ...

. On 28 October 2017, thanks to a close-range effort by the Argentinian attacking midfielder, Panathinaikos won 1–0 at

derby clash against champions

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

. On 7 January 2018,

Marinos Ouzounidis Marinos Ouzounidis ( el, Μαρίνος Ουζουνίδης, born 10 October 1968) is a Greek football manager and former professional player. Playing career Ouzounidis started his professional career playing for Greek club Skoda Xanthi as a de ...

’ team, which had last tasted victory in the Super League back on 28 October with a 1–0 derby win over Olympiacos, finally stopped the rot in the first game of 2018 thanks to a pair of penalties from Villafáñez in a 2–0 win home game against

Platanias Platanias (Greek: Πλατανιάς) is a village and municipality on the Greek island of Crete. It is located about west from the city of Chania and east of Kissamos, on Chania Bay. The seat of the municipality is the village Gerani. Platani ...

. On 14 January 2018, with Panathinaikos in financial difficulties, French website "Foot Mercato" reported Villafáñez had been offered to three

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. ...

clubs, namely

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabit ...

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; frp, Sant-Etiève; oc, Sant Estève, ) is a city and the prefecture of the Loire department in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Saint-Étienne is the ...

and

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. The city is on t ...

for the January transfer window on a loan basis till the end of the season with a purchase option in the range of €2 million for the summer of 2018. Villafáñez left the club having 73 appearances (10 goals, 13 assists) in all competitions.

Alanyaspor

On 23 January 2018, Turkish club

Alanyaspor Alanyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club located in the city of Alanya in Antalya Province. Formed in 1948, the club colours are orange and green. Home matches are played at Kırbıyık Holding Stadium. The most recent club m ...

initially offered an €800,000 transfer fee to Panathinaikos for Villafáñez. The transfer offer involved two Greek internationals,

Giorgos Tzavellas George Tzavellas, also rendered Giorgos Tzavellas, Yiorgos Tzavellas, or Yorgos Javellas ( el, Γιώργος Τζαβέλλας, 1916, Athens – October 18, 1976), was a Greek film director, screenwriter, and playwright. His filmmaking was particu ...

and

Giannis Maniatis Giannis Maniatis ( el, Γιάννης Μανιάτης ; born 12 October 1986) is a Greek former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football)#Full-back, right back or a defensive midfielder. Club ...

. According to various sources, the transfer could be set in the range of €1.1 million, with Villafáñez agreeing to a 2.5-year contract, with annual earnings levelled to €800,000 per year. After three days of negotiations, Panathinaikos agreed with

for a total transfer amount of €1.2 million. The financial struggling Greens will receive a net amount of €900,000, as Villafáñez ex-club Panetolikos retained a 10% resale rate, while from the total transfer amount Panathinaikos will cover his debt both to the player's rights from Independiente and his annual delayed salary. On 27 January 2018, two days after his arrival, he made his debut with the club as a starter in a 3–1 home win game against Alanyaspor. On 18 May 2018, in the last matchday of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

he scored his first goal with the club in a 3–2 home win game against

Antalyaspor Antalyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club located in the city of Antalya. The club's colours are red and white. They play their home matches at the Antalya Stadium. In Turkey, the club won the First League twice in 1982 and ...

Morelia

On 3 July 2019, Monarcas Morelia presented Villafáñez as their new player.

Return to Panathinaikos

In July 2020, Villafáñez returned to the Greek giants

Panathinaikos F.C. Panathinaikos Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Παναθηναϊκός Α.Ο. ), known as Panathinaikos, or by its full name, and the name of its parent sports club, Panathinaikos A.O. or PAO (; ''Panathinaïkós Athlitikós Ómilos'', "All-Athenian ...

with a two year deal from Monarcas Morelia.

International career

Villafáñez was part of

Sergio Batista Sergio Daniel "Checho" Batista (; born 9 November 1962) is an Argentine football manager and former international player. As a footballer he played as a midfield for Argentinos Juniors, River Plate, Nueva Chicago, Tosu Futures and All Boy ...

's Argentina U-20 national team in 2010. In 2011, he was selected to represent Argentina at the

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when ...

. Villafanez also, expressed his desire to play for

Greece national football team The Greece national football team ( el, Εθνική Ελλάδας, ) represents Greece in men's international football matches and is controlled by the Hellenic Football Federation, the governing body for football in Greece. Greece play mos ...

, through his maternal great-grandfather, who was born in

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Sar ...

. In 2014, Villafáñez started the procedure in order to claim the Greek citizenship, due to his great-grandfather who was from

, in order to be eligible for the

. In December 2017, he was in the final stages for acquiring the citizenship and was to be available for the national team.

Honours

Panathinaikos *

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most i ...

: 2021–22

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Villafanez, Lucas Living people 1991 births Argentine men's footballers Argentine Primera División players Men's association football wingers Men's association football midfielders Argentina men's under-20 international footballers Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games Pan American Games medalists in football Pan American Games silver medalists for Argentina Footballers at the 2011 Pan American Games Primera Nacional players Super League Greece players Süper Lig players Liga MX players Comisión de Actividades Infantiles footballers Club Atlético Independiente footballers Club Atlético Huracán footballers Panetolikos F.C. players Panathinaikos F.C. players Alanyaspor footballers Atlético Morelia players Argentine expatriate men's footballers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Footballers from Chubut Province Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus APOEL FC players Cypriot First Division players