Football Player's Biography 7: Fernando Gago

Full name	Fernando Rubén Gago
Date of birth	10 April 1986 (1986-04-10) (age 24)
Place of birth	Ciudadela, Argentina
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 9¹⁄₂ in)^[1]
Playing position	Defensive midfielder

Fernando Rubén Gago (born 10 April 1986 in Ciudadela, Buenos Aires) is an Argentine footballer, who currently plays for Real Madrid and the Argentine national team.

Career

Boca Juniors

Gago, who came from the youth divisions of Boca Juniors, made his professional debut with Boca in the 1–0 victory over Quilmes on 5 December 2004. Despite his youth, he quickly became an essential part of the Boca midfield, and attracted attention from European clubs such as Real Madrid ^[2] and Barcelona.^[3]

Real Madrid

On 15 November 2006, Real Madrid President confirmed the signings of Gago as well as compatriot Gonzalo Higuaín of River Plate, as part of his policy to sign younger players to gradually replace the older stars in the squad. However, news of Higuaín's departure to Madrid was premature as River Plate rejected a €10 million bid for the striker, stating they would prefer him remain until at least June 2007. During the 2006 South American transfer saga, Gago's name was also linked with Milan. However, Ariedo Braida, Milan's top transfer guru, was quoted as saying, "They [Gago and Higuaín] only want to go to Madrid". The transfer was finally agreed on 19 December 2006 for €20.4 million. Since the move, he has been very impressive in the defensive midfield position,^[4] which led to comparisons to former Argentina "number 5" Fernando Redondo from Jorge Valdano and many other pundits.
Gago made his debut for Madrid in the 2–0 La Liga defeat against Deportivo La Coruña on 7 January 2007.^[5] This promised to be an exciting start for the extremely talented midfielder. However, due to the poor team performance, Gago was unable to display his talent, and after being at fault for the opening goal by breaking from the rest of the defensive wall at a free-kick, he was replaced by substitute Ronaldo.

However, a week later against Real Zaragoza at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Gago's performance lifted along with that of his teammates. His defensive game picked up considerably as he fought hard in midfield, while also demonstrating vision by delivering several through balls to the attackers. Real Madrid defeated Real Zaragoza 1–0,^[7] with a goal from Ruud van Nistelrooy, created by fellow new signing Gonzalo Higuaín.
On 20 May 2007, with the score tied at 2–2 against Recreativo Huelva, Madrid looked set to return the lead back to rivals FC Barcelona until Fernando Gago gave a last minute assist to Roberto Carlos, who scored at the end of the match and the squad left Huelva with just three "finals" left to play. Real managed to beat Recreativo 3–2 at the Estadio Nuevo Colombino and went on to win the league title.
Before the start of the 2007–08 season, Gago changed his number from 16 to 8. In his second season at the club, Gago displayed his true ability with a series of top class performances in the centre of Madrid's La Liga-winning midfield. He managed to claim a first team spot in place of Mahamadou Diarra and was a key figure in the club's second successive league title.
During the January transfer window Gago was very close to signing for Manchester City. He had agreed personal terms although an agreement worth about £15m could not be agreed between both teams.
In the beginning of the 2008–09 season, Gago only played two games due to an injury he picked up during the Champions League match against BATE Borisov. He managed to recover in time and was named in the starting eleven for 27 October La Liga clash against Athletic Bilbao. Madrid won 3–2 and Gago was praised for his match-winning performance in the midfield with Wesley Sneijder. Also in this season, Gago scored his first goal for Madrid, a header from a indirect free kick delivered by Guti against Sevilla FC to tie the game 3–3, however they went on to lose the game 3–4 with a goal from Renato in the 82th minute of the match.
Against Villarreal CF, he started in central midfield along with new signing Lassana Diarra. They put in a solid performance together. At the end of the season, with Fabio Cannavaro returning to Juventus meant that the number Gago had initially wanted, 5, was now available. He willingly offered his number 8 to new arrival Kaká and took number 5, the same number he wears for Argentina.
Under Jose Mourinho, Gago has struggled to get gametime because of injury and Mourinho's preference of Xabi Alonso and Sami Khedira in the defensive midfield

Personal life

Gago, Sergio Agüero, and Lionel Messi had all been teammates as children back in Argentina.^[9] Together, the three of them won the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship in the Netherlands. Presently, all three of them, now in their twenties, are enjoying success at Spanish clubs (Agüero at Atlético de Madrid and Messi at FC Barcelona).
Fernando Gago is also a literature and art enthusiast. The first thing he did after landing in Spain was visit the Museo del Prado.^[10] He earned the nickname El Pintita ever since Ramón Maddoni scolded him for playing with his hair.^[11] Also, his Boca Juniors teammates would call him so because his youth squad coach would scold him "stop painting and run!"^[12]

National team

Gago was part of the under-20 squad which won the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship and was one of many touted "future stars" in the competition. Though he wasn't named in the squad for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, he received a call-up a year later and played in the 2007 Copa America. Since then, he has been a regular squad member. Under new coach Diego Maradona he has been in the starting line-up, partnering with fellow defensive midfielder Javier Mascherano of Barcelona.