Pablo César Leonardo Velázquez Centurión (born 12 March 1987) is a Paraguayan

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 striker. He last played for River Plate (Asunción).

Career

Velázquez began his career in the youth divisions of

Atlántida Sport Club Atlántida Sport Club, known simply as Atlántida, is a Paraguayan football club based in Barrio Obrero in the city of Asunción. It was founded on December 23, 1906. It plays in the Third Division of Paraguayan football. Among his achievement ...

. After scoring 45 goals in an under-15 tournament with the team, he joined Libertad in 2003. He scored his first professional goal with the team in his debut on 10 December 2005, against 12 de Octubre. In 2009, Velázquez was loaned to Rubio Ñu. There, he got the chance to play regularly and seized the opportunity by becoming the top scorer in the

Paraguayan Primera División The División Profesional de la Paraguayan Football Association, Asociación Paraguaya de Fútbol (; "Professional Division of the Paraguayan Football Association"), also known as the Primera División (; "first division"), or due to sponsorship ...

Apertura championship, with 16 goals in 20 games. After this, the Argentine club River Plate tried to sign him in July. However, the transfer did not materialize because the club wanted him on loan at a price well below that set by the owner of Velázquez's transfer rights, Libertad (US$3 million). A few weeks later, the player rejected an offer from

CSKA Sofia CSKA Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia and currently competing in the country's premier football competition, the First League. ''CSKA'' is an abbreviation for ''Central Sports Club of the Army'' ...

of Bulgaria. In August, River attempted to sign him again. A deal was close, and the press even confirmed the transfer, but eventually the clubs could not agree on the form of payment. Almost immediately came an offer from another Argentine team,

San Lorenzo San Lorenzo is the Italian and Spanish name for Saint Lawrence, the 3rd-century Christian martyr, and may refer to: Places Argentina * San Lorenzo, Santa Fe * San Lorenzo Department, Chaco * Villa San Lorenzo, town and municipality in Salta P ...

; this time, River reported that the transfer deadline was due and San Lorenzo had not registered Velázquez. Velázquez continued his career with Rubio Ñu. In the Torneo Clausura, he scored 10 goals in 19 games, totalling 26 in 39 during the 2009 season. This made him the season's top scorer in the Paraguayan Primera División. After the season, his loan ended and he returned to Libertad. On 30 December 2010, Velázquez was announced as the new signing of San Lorenzo, of the

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; ), known officially as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Betano for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Argentina and the highest level of the Argentine football league system. Organ ...

. After good performances at Libertad, Velázquez was linked to a move to the Mexican side Deportivo Toluca, where the Paraguayan international

Edgar Benítez Edgar is a commonly used masculine English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Edgar'' (composed of '' ead'' "rich, prosperous" and '' gar'' "spear"). Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the Late Middle Ages; it was, however ...

plays. Toluca's coach, the former Paraguayan international and Toluca striker José Saturnino Cardozo, requested Velázquez along with Olimpia's Paraguayan international Richard Ortiz. Other teams that have looked to sign Velázquez are the Brazilian teams

Palmeiras The Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional association football, football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes (district of São Paulo), Perdizes. Palmeiras is ...

and Atletico Paranaense and teams in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

International career

Velázquez played the

South American Youth Championship South American Youth Championships may refer to: * South American Youth Football Championship The South American Youth Football Championship, also known as South American U-20 Championship (; ), branded as CONMEBOL Sub 20, is a South American foo ...

with Paraguay U-20 in 2007.

Honours

;Individual *

top scorer:

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

* Liga MX Golden Boot (Shared): Apertura 2013

References

Pablo Velázquez ya está a las órdenes del DT de Cerro
lanacion.com.py, 22 June 2016

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Velazquez, Pablo 1987 births Living people Footballers from Asunción Paraguayan men's footballers Paraguayan expatriate men's footballers Paraguay men's international footballers Club Libertad footballers Club Rubio Ñu footballers San Lorenzo de Almagro footballers Deportivo Toluca F.C. players Atlético Nacional footballers Atlético Morelia players Cerro Porteño players Club Necaxa footballers Club Guaraní players Club Nacional footballers Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata footballers Club Atlético Banfield footballers Club General Díaz (Luque) footballers Paraguayan Primera División players Liga MX players Argentine Primera División players Categoría Primera A players Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Colombia Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Expatriate men's footballers in Colombia Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Argentina Men's association football forwards 21st-century Paraguayan sportsmen