Tomás Pérez

Tomás Pérez was born in Rosario, in the summer of 2005, and it was in the third largest city in Argentina - birthplace of Lionel Messi and capital of the province of Santa Fe - that he started playing, for Club Gimnasia y Esgrima. He quickly joined the rojinegras schools and began to stand out with the colours of Newell's Old Boys. In 2022, at just 16 years old, Adrián Taffarel called him to the secondary team and described him as “the future midfielder of the first division”. 77 matches for the reserves later, in the seventh matchday of the Superleague, Sebastián Méndez decided to send him in the reception to Independiente Rivadavia and, since then, the 182 centimeters central midfielder settled in the main team of the “lepers”, scoring his first against Estudiantes. The South American press describes him as “the typical traditional number five” - the equivalent to the number six in Europe -, those who “seem prepared to organize everything in the midfield”. “He stands out for his tactical reading, recoverability and simple but effective game. He is the classic engine that dictates the team's rhythm, a profile increasingly difficult to find in modern football”, according to the sports newspaper Olé. Javier Mascherano will agree with this assessment, as he decided to call him to the Argentinian under20 team. From now on, the young midfielder will wear blue and white more often, as he switched Argentina for Portugal and Newell's for FC Porto.