Lucas Castroman

Lucas Martin Castroman is a retired Argentine footballer who played as a midfielder.

Born on October 2, 1980, Castroman embarked on his professional career in the game with Velez Sarsfield in the year 1997. At the time, he was coached by the revered manager Marcelo Bielsa.

The midfielder established himself in the Velez Sarsfield side in his three years with the club. His performances with Velez caught the eye of Italian side Lazio who signed him up at the start of the 2000-2001 season.

Despite being a largely peripheral figure during his three-year spell with Lazio, he was quite popular with his team’s fans. He had scored a late goal in the Rome derby that helped Lazio earn a 2-2 draw against Roma. The opposition were on course for a win before Castroman’s intervention helped Lazio claim a share of the spoils.

In his final season in Italian football, Castroman had been loaned to Udinese by Lazio. After having made 37 appearances during his stay at Lazio in which he scored four goals, Castroman would go on to feature 20 times in the league for Udinese, scoring once.

In the year 2004, the Argentine returned to Argentina with former club Velez Sarsfield. He became a hero at the club in his second coming as he helped them end a seven-year trophy drought by winning the Primera Division Clausura tournament in 2005.

At the time, Velez were coached by Miguel Angel Russo. With Marcelo Bravo and Jonas Gutierrez occupying Castroman’s favoured positions on the wing, Russo converted Castroman into a second striker. It proved to be an inspired decision as the player excelled in his new position, ending the season as the joint top-scorer along with Rolando Zarate in the Clausura tournament.

Castroman quit Velez in 2007 over a fall-out with Ricardo La Volpe, who was the coach at the time. However, as a mark of respect to Velez Sarsfield, the Argentine went on to join Club America in Mexico.

However, injuries hampered his time at the Mexican club and a poor disciplinary record hastened his exit within six months of signing for Club America. Subsequently, Castroman was loaned out to Boca Juniors for a hefty sum of over 1 million USD.

Even though Castroman was not a first choice at Boca Juniors, he was a member of the team that won the Apertura 2008 and the Recopa Sudamericana 2008 tournaments.

He signed his final professional contract with Racing Club de Avellaneda in 2009. In his solitary season with Racing Club, Castroman made a total of 37 league appearances while scoring thrice.

Castroman had been capped at senior level by Argentina. He had played for the Argentina U-20 side between 1997 and 1999 before earning five caps for Argentina between 2000 and 2005.