What ever happened to? Fernando de Ornelas

De Ornelas in
Celtic colours.

In the summer of 1999 Crystal Palace became the first British club to sign a Venezuelan footballer when they signed winger Fernando de Ornelas from Happy Valley AA of Hong Kong.

De Ornelas was born on 29 July 1976 in the city of Caracas. He began his professional playing career with Maritimo Caracas in 1994 and had also played for Unión Táchira and Deportivo Italchaco before beginning his international football odyssey in Hong Kong.

He only ever played 9 games for Crystal Palace, starting 5 and coming on as a substitute in the others he left Palace in December 1999 with some fans complaining that he did not live up to expectations, however anyone with high expectations of a Venezuelan winger signed from a Hong Kong based side called Happy Valley would clearly not have a very firm grip on reality.

After leaving Palace he had an unsuccessful spell with Spanish side Real Zaragoza in which he failed to make a single appearance and then he joined Scottish side Celtic in December 2000. He got even less game time for the Glasgow giants than he had for Palace, he played in a friendly game against Bayern Munich and made only two league appearances for the first team. His league debut was as an 82nd minute substitute in a game against Dundee on 15 April 2000 and his other appearance came as a 73rd minute sub against Hibernian later that month.

• De Ornelas at the Celtic Wiki

Within a few months of arriving in Scotland he was on his way again. His next club were Slovan Bratislava of Slovakia where he also failed to settle, appearing in only 2 league games. It was during this first stint in European football that he began to establish himself as a regular first team player for the Venezuela national team. In the 1999-2000 period he played nearly as many games for Venezuela as he did for his European clubs.

His next move was to return to the Hong Kong league to play for South China AA, it was from here that he made his surprise return to British football in October 2001 when he was signed on a short term contract by QPR. Manager Ian Holloway threw him into the action as a late substitute in a game against Oldham Athletic, in which he didn't really do anything except earn himself a yellow card within about a minute of coming onto the pitch. He only ever made one more appearance for the club before being offloaded to Portuguese side Maritimo.

During his time in British football De Ornelas had three clubs, started six competitive games and appeared as a substitute in seven more, he never scored a goal in British football.

De Ornelas was a popular player for Odd Grenland.
He is pictured here in a game against IK Start.

After making only 4 league appearances for Maritimo, he had an equally unsuccessful stint with Gansu Tianma in mainland China, in which the highlight of his stay was probably being a team mate of Gazza during the self destructive Geordie's brief stint in Chinese football. His next club was 1.FC Nürnberg in the German 2nd division, where he had a five month stint.

In 2004 he joined Cypriot side Olimpiakos Nicosia where after 3 years of roaming around making sporadic appearances for a multitude of clubs he finally established himself as a regular first team player making 21 league appearances over the next two seasons bagging himself 3 goals.

In 2005 he joined the brilliantly named Norwegian team Odd Grenland where he made 57 league appearances and scored 11 goals (see video). This run of form earned him a recall to the Venezuela national team in 2005 and in 2007 he was part of the Venezuela squad for the Copa América tournament in Venezuela. He played in all three of the group games and helped the team progress to the 2nd round for the first time in the history of the competition. He also appeared in the 1-4 defeat to Uruguay in the quarter-final.

Fernando de Ornelas looks a pretty good player in this video, however the standards of 

defending and marking do not appear to be that great in the Norwegian first division.

De Ornelas and Bolivian defender Ronald Raldes
pictured during the group stage game between
Venezuela and Bolivia in Copa América 2007.

  

De Ornelas spent 3 seasons at Odd Grenland where he played alongside the likes of Cameroonian journeyman and former Sheffield United and Coventry player Patrick Suffo, Somen Tchoyi who is currently at West Brom in the Premier league and de Ornelas' Venezuela international team mate Ruberth Moran.

He made his last appearance for Venezuela in 2007, he made a total of 27 appearances for his country between 1999 and 2007 and scored 5 goals. Some of his international goals can be seen on this video.

After Odd Grenland were relegated to the Norwegian 2nd division De Ornelas returned to Venezuelan domestic football in July 2008 but after short stints with Monagas and Zulia he returned to Norway in 2009 to play for 2nd division side Mjøndalen IF, because his family could not settle back in Venezuela. He currently plays in the lower leagues of Norwegian football for semi-professional side Gulset IF.


De Ornelas never really set the world on fire for any of the clubs he played for, however he seems to have been well liked by the fans of Odd Grenland, he earned his place in the history of Venezuelan football by playing in the most successful Venezuela side ever to play in the Copa América and he has definitely earned his place on the list of the world's greatest international journeymen footballers.

Part of the What ever happened to? series.

What ever happened to? Hamilton Ricard

Hamilton Ricard playing for Middlesbrough.

In 1998 Middlesbrough FC signed 24 year old Colombian striker Hamilton Ricard from Deportivo Cali for a fee of £2 million. Ricard had been in a rich vien of form, he was the top scorer in the Colombian league in 1996-97 with 36 goals and had starred for the Colombia national team at Copa América 1997 and at the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

After struggling to adapt to life in the 2nd tier of English football in his first season and earning himself more than a few detractors amongst the Boro faithful, some of whom cruelly referred to him as Hamilton Retard.He rediscovered his goalscoring form after Boro were promoted to the Premier League, he scored in the double figures as the club's top scorer for the 1998-99 & 1999-00 seasons and making himself  the most prolific striker Boro have had over a season since Fabrizio Ravanelli in 1996-97 and a better Premier League goalscorer than all of the big money signings to have come after him.

Ricard stayed with Middlesbrough for 4 years, making 132 appearances for the club in all competitions. He scored 43 goals in his time on Teesside, giving him a goal average of nearly 1 in 3 which is pretty good considering he made 25 appearances as a substitute. Ricard blew hot and cold for the Boro, he went on long runs without scoring a goal but on his day he was brilliant. His game winning curler against Bradford at Valley parade was a contender for goal of the season in 2000-01 and his 3rd goal at Highbury in 2001 will live long in the memory. He particularly enjoyed playing against London clubs, he scored plenty of goals against Wimbledon and Spurs, his first goal after only 30 seconds in a 3-1 win against Wimbledon in April 1999 remained the fastest goal scored at the Riverside until 2010. Another of his stand out performances came in a 0-3 away win against Spurs in September 1998 in which he scored 2 sublime goals, he repeated the trick the following season netting twice at White Hart Lane in a 2-3 win.

Hamilton Ricard alongside legendary
Colombian midfielder Carlos Valderrama.

During his time in Middlesbrough he continued to make appearances for the Colombia national team, appearing at Copa América in 1999 and making his final two appearances for his nation in 2000 bringing his tally to 5 goals in 27 international games.

Ricard fell out of favour after Steve McClaren arrived at the Riverside, he eventually joined Bulgarian side CSKA Sofia after he was released from his contract in 2002. He never settled in Bulgaria and returned to Colombia later that year after only making 9 appearances for CSKA.

Ricard joined up with Independiente Santa Fe back in his homeland. While he was there he was involved in a car crash that resulted in the death of a 17 year old girl.

In 2003 he had stints with Shonan Belmare in Japan and Cortuluá back in Colombia but he did not settle at either club. He refound his form in Ecuador in 2004 hitting 17 goals in 25 games for Emelec but his time there ended in disaster after he was banned from football for a year for attacking a referee and making obscene gestures at the crowd.

Ricard returned to Deportivo Cali in 2005

His ban was overturned on appeal, but he left Ecuador behind to try his luck again in European football, his next club were Cypriot side APOEL, he made 15 appearances for the club, scoring six goals to help them to win the Cypriot league in 2004.

In 2005 he returned to his first team Deportivo Cali where he had won two league titles and finished as the top scorer in the Colombian league. He did not rediscover his form and after failing to score in six games he left Colombian football behind for the last time to join Spanish 2nd division side Numancia where he scored 2 goals in 16 games to help them to an 8th place finish.

In 2006 he joined Uruguayan side Danubio FC where he once again rediscovered his goalscoring touch, hitting 11 goals in 25 appearances to help them to win the Uruguayan league championship in 2007. It was in 2007 that he was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment in his absence by a Colombian court, a sentence his lawyers stated that they would appeal against and which as yet he still has not served.

Hamilton Ricard celebrating a goal for Danubio FC in Uruguay.

After this success he was lured to China for the big money on offer from Shanghai Shenhua who had been scouring the Uruguayan league for players at the time. they also signed Uruguayans  Sergio Blanco, Diego Alonso and Fernando Correa at the same time. Ricard had a successful spell in China, scoring 14 goals in 42 league games in his two years in Shanghai.

In 2009 he returned to Danubio FC where he scored 3 goals in 10 games before being released at the end of the Apertura 2009 tournament and in 2010 his nomadic football career took him to the 10th different country when he joined Deportes Concepción of the Chilean 2nd division.

In January 2010 Ricard joined his 12th club in the 10th
different country of his nomadic football career.

In July 2010 he was involved in a bizarre game between Deportes Concepción and Rangers de Talca, in which the referee insisted on a penalty being retaken three times (Ricard missed one of them) and then ended up getting strangled by Rangers defender José Pedrozo.

"Ham the man" Ricard is fondly remembered by many Middlesbrough fans as well as the fans of Deportivo Cali in Colombia, APOEL in Cyprus, Danubio FC in Uruguay and Shanghai Shenhua in China. He is less fondly remembered at a succession of other clubs where he failed to find his goalscoring touch. What is clear is that he deserves his place on the list of the World's greatest international journeyman footballers.

Part of the What ever happened to? series.

What ever happened to? Walter del Rio

Walter del Rio playing for Dundee in the Scottish Premier League.

In August 1998 three Argentine players turned up at Crystal Palace in a deal which was rumoured to have cost at least £448,769 in agents' fees alone. The first player to leave was Pablo Rodríguez of Argentinos Juniors who returned to his club after failing his medical. A few days later Cristian Raúl Ledesma (not the more famous Cristian Daniel Ledesma of Lazio) returned to Argentinos as he was unsatisfied with the terms of the contract on offer, he eventually signed for Argentine giants River Plate in 1999.

The only player left was 22 year old defender Walter del Rio who was signed from Boca Juniors for a fee of £187,500. Walter, nicknamed "Wally" and "Wicha" in Argentina had played only 3 first team games for Boca Juniors before being sent out on loan to Argentine 2nd division club Huracán de Corrientes  between 1997 and 1998.

Palace found Del Rio a flat in Croydon and bought him a car with deductions to be taken from his wages for both. He only ever started one game for the club in a 0-4 defeat against Barnsley. He also made two appearances as a substitute under manager Terry Venables, but once Steve Coppell took over he was frozen out of the first team altogether. 

In March 1999, after Crystal Palace had gone into administration Del Rio received a two-sentence letter signed by the club secretary, Michael Hurst stating "This is to confirm that Crystal Palace Football Club have given you a free transfer. You have the club's authority to seek future employment with any other club," At this point Palace stopped paying his wages despite the fact that he was under contract until June. This was a severe blow as he was sending most of his wages home to help support his mother and younger siblings cope after the death of his father in the late 1980s.

Despite not being paid Del Rio was attending training every day in order to ensure that the club could not withhold his wages for breach of contract but he was not allowed to practice with the other players so he trained on his own. His PFA agent at the time Neil Fewings said "He has a great attitude. He's not one of these players who've come over here thinking he's owed a living. He's a lovely bloke, just looking to get on, play football, and prove himself somewhere."

It is not entirely clear what he did for the year after leaving Palace, but it is safe to assume that he remained in the UK seeking an alternative club as he had an unsuccessful trial with Norwich City in 1999 and another trial with Scottish side Dundee in July 2000 which earned him a 2 year contract with the club. A few months later he was joined by one of the most remarkable signings in the history of the club; fellow Argentine Claudio Caniggia.

Although he didn't play many games in his first season with the club it must have been a wonderful experience for the lad, who up until this point had barely played top flight football finding himself in a small Scottish town playing alongside one of the icons of Argentine football in the 1990s.

Caniggia left the club at the end of the season to join Rangers but Del Rio was kept on for another season, he earned himself a place as a regular first team player and was well liked by the Dundee fans for his hard working attitude and commitment. By the time he left in 2002 he had played 49 times for the club.

Del Rio made good use of the Italian passport that had allowed him the opportunity to play football in Europe by joining Italian lower league side Carrarense in 2002 where he played for one season. His next club were Cosenza who like Crystal Palace a few years before ended up in severe financial difficulties, they went out of existence in 2004.

Del Rio then found his way to the Swiss 2nd division where he played for FC Wohlen (2004-05) and Young Fellows Juventus (2005-06).

In 2006 his nomadic career as an international journeyman footballer took him to his sixth different country, he joined Extremadura, who in their glory days in the 1990s had boasted famous Argentine players like Fabián Basualdo and Carlos Navarro Montoya but by the time Del Rio had joined them they had fallen back into the 3rd tier of Spanish football. For the third time in his career he found himself at a club experiencing severe difficulties, they were relegated from the division at the end of the season and then dropped down another division for financial irregularities.

Del Rio stayed in Spain joining San Fernando in the 4th tier of Spanish football in 2007. He helped the club to achieve promotion to the 3rd tier as champions in 2007-08 but in 2009 the club got into financial difficulties and went out of business in August 2009.

Having experienced 2 relegations, two clubs going into administration and another two going out of business altogether Del Rio cut his losses in European football and returned to Argentina. he eventually found a club in January 2010 when he joined semi-professional side Boca de Río Gallegos in the regionalised 4th division of Argentine football.

In January 2010 former club Crystal Palace entered administration for the second time and in November 2010 another former club Dundee went into administration for the second time since he had left the club, as a result they were docked 25 points leaving them bottom of the table 20 points from safety.

It would be absurd to suggest that Walter del Rio is carrying some kind of curse, but the sheer scale of the troubles experienced by his former clubs is remarkable. It is a shame for the lad, since he seems to have worked hard in his football career without much glory or success, been well liked by the fans and done his best to support his family back in Argentina.

Part of the What ever happened to? series.

International journeyman footballer

German goalkeeper Lutz Pfannenstiel is the
master international journeyman footballer.

International journeymen footballers are players that spend a nomadic career playing for whatever team will have them anywhere in the world. The two main source nations for international journeyman footballers are Argentina and Brazil who export far more professional footballers than any other country. There are obviously journeyman footballers from other regions, German goalkeeper Lutz Pfannenstiel has played on all 6 continents, but the list is dominated by South American players.

Most international journeyman footballers rarely spend more than one season at any team, often this is because they are not good enough to be considered worth keeping once their contract expires, but in some cases such as Uruguayan striker Sebastián Abreu, they have plenty of talent but just don't stick around at any club for very long.

The international journeyman footballer is distinct from everyday journeyman footballers like former English striker Steve Claridge who played for 21 different teams in England. The international journeyman will play for a large number of clubs in many different countries.

Inclusion criteria for this list 

• Played for at least 10 different clubs 
• Played in at least 6 different countries.

Surname	Forename	Nationality	Clubs	Different countries
Abreu	Sebastián	Uruguay	18	8
Adippe	Carim	Chile	22	10
Ailton		Brazil	18	9
Almandoz	Héctor	Argentina	16	8
Alnoudji	Nicolas	Cameroon	13	8
Álvarez	Luciano	Argentina	10	8
Anđelković	Miodrag	Serbia	21	15
Arias	Federico	Argentina	12	7
Bahoken	Gustave	Cameroon	10	7
Biaggio	Claudio	Argentina	14	6
Biscayzacú	Gustavo	Uruguay	12	6
Bortolozzo	Diego	Brazil	10	7
Branco	Serge	Cameroon	11	6
Bustos Montoya	Eduardo	Argentina	12	6
Burke	Mark	England	10	6
Cacá		Brazil	15	8
Cazarine	Bruno	Brazil	12	8
Cecco	Rúben	Argentina	14	8
Cobelli	Sebastián	Argentina	13	8
Conde	Ballamodou	Guinea	11	6
Cuevas	Nelson	Paraguay	10	7
Danilevičius	Tomas	Lithuania	10	7
Del Rio	Walter	Argentina	11	6
Denilson		Brazil	11	7
De Ornelas	Fernando	Venezuela	18	11
Diawara	Kaba	France	17	6
Elías	Claudio	Uruguay	11	6
Elpído Silva		Brazil	11	6
Emerson		Brazil	14	7
Emilio	Luciano	Brazil	12	6
Everson		Brazil	14	7
Florentín	Derlis	Paraguay	11	7
Fuentes	Gustavo	Argentina	17	8
Gavilán	Diego	Paraguay	11	6
Gerba	Ali	Canada	11	7
Herrera	José Oscar	Uruguay	10	6
Hurtado	Eduardo	Ecuador	21	8
Ipoua	Samuel	Cameroon	13	8
Jankauskas	Edgaras	Lithuania	15	10
José Júnior		Brazil	15	7
Jardel	Mario	Brazil	17	10
Julio Cesár		Brazil	13	9
Kallon	Mohamed	Sierra Leone	17	10
Kaviedes	Iván	Ecuador	14	8
Lamptey	Nii	Ghana	13	12
Lima	Francisco	Brazil	13	7
Lipatin	Marcelo	Uruguay	12	8
Litmanen	Jari	Finland	11	6
López	Hernán Rodrigo	Uruguay	12	7
Lunari	Ricardo	Argentina	11	9
Marinelli	Carlos	Argentina	11	8
Maradona	Hugo	Argentina	10	8
Masudi	Alain	DR Congo	13	6
Matosas	Gustavo	Uruguay	12	6
Mea Vitali	Miguel	Venezuela	10	6
Mimboe	Tobie	Cameroon	10	6
Molina	Mauricio	Colombia	10	7
Navarro Montoya	Carlos	Colombia	17	6
N'Jock	Jérémie	Cameroon	12	7
N'Kong	Alain	Cameroon	11	7
Otta	Walter	Argentina	15	12
Nwosu Kanu	Henry	Nigeria	15	9
Paez	Ricardo David	Venezuela	18	11
Panguinetti	Emerson	Argentina	16	8
Parodi	Juan Martín	Uruguay	12	7
Pérez Arrieta	Ibón	Spain	14	6
Pfannenstiel	Lutz	Germany	24	15
Pinilla	Mauricio	Chile	11	7
Prosinečki	Robert	Germany/Croatia	12	6
Reinoso	Gerardo	Argentina	14	6
Rey	José Manuel	Venezuela	10	7
Ricard	Hamilton	Colombia	11	10
Rivaldo Costa		Brazil	13	8
Rosental	Sebastián	Chile	11	7
Sarlles	Mauricio	Brazil	10	6
Sara	Juan	Argentina	14	12
Screpis	Fernando	Argentina	11	9
Suffo	Patrick	Cameroon	14	9
Tchame	Alphonse	Cameroon	11	10
Traverso	Gerardo	Uruguay	12	6
Tsveiba	Akhrik	USSR/Georgia	12	6
Vata	Rudi	Albania	13	7
Vítor Hugo		Brazil	15	6
Villanueva	José Luis	Chile	11	7
Wanchope	Paulo	Costa Rica	10	8
Weah	George	Liberia	11	8
Wesay Toe	Arcadia Martin	Liberia	14	12
West	Taribo	Nigeria	10	8
Wreh	Cristopher	Liberia	13	8
Xavier	Abel	Portugal	11	7
Zárate	Rolando	Argentina	12	6

Note: This is not a definitive list, if you know of a footballer that meets the criteria as an international journeyman please leave a comment below and I will add him to the list.

What ever happened to? Iván Kaviedes

Kaviedes at Crystal palace in 2004.

On 19 August 2004 newly promoted Premier League side Crystal Palace signed 26 year old Ecuador international striker Iván Kaviedes from Barcelona Sporting Club for a reported fee of £2 million.

By this point Kaviedes was already an international journeyman footballer having played professional football in Ecuador (Emelec, Deportivo Quito & Barcelona SC), Italy (Perugia), Spain (Celta Vigo & Valladolid), Mexico (Puebla) and Portugal (FC Porto) with varying degrees of success. At the time he was a regular first team player for the Ecuador national team and a very popular player in his homeland having scored the goal that secured Ecuador's first ever qualification for the World Cup in a 1-1 draw with Uruguay in November 2001.

He was highly regarded as a finisher, he scored 43 goals in one season for his first club Emelec, the goal of the season for 2000-01 in Spain with a bicycle kick against Barcelona for Valladolid and this excellent finish for Mexican side Puebla. Another notable moment in his career was this dribble and pass to set up Agustín Delgado's goal in a famous 1-0 win against Brazil in 2001.

Upon his arrival in south London  manager Ian Dowie said "He is an icon in Ecuadorian football and an outstanding footballer. He's come on trial and shown good motivation in training, he's a breath of fresh air, a great finisher and a free-kick specialist."


Despite Dowie's positive words Kaviedes barely featured for Palace despite the fact that they were embroiled in a relegation battle and struggling to score goals. He made six competitive appearances for the club, he made his debut in a 1-3 defeat against Everton. His only start came in a game against Chelsea and the remaining four appearances all came as a second half substitute. It can be argued that he was unfortunate that Dowie stuck to a 4-5-1 formation and team mate Andy Johnson hit a rich vein of form, scoring 21 goals in the season and making himself virtually undroppable. In January 2005 he was allowed to leave the club after his contract was terminated by mutual consent, despite all of Johnson's goals Palace were relegated at the end of the season.

Kaviedes spiderman celebration at the 2006 World Cup.

Kaviedes returned to Barcelona Sporting Club in 2005 and regained his scoring touch, netting 9 goals in 19 games


Later that year he joined Argentine Primera División side Argentinos Juniors where he played with limited success, but he was still selected for the 2006 World Cup squad. He famously put on a spiderman mask after scoring against Costa Rica in the World Cup as a tribute to former team mate Otilino "Spiderman" Tenorio who had died in a car crash in 2005.
After the World Cup he had another brief stint with Barcelona Sporting Club and in 2007 he joined El Nacional where he scored 14 goals in 34 league appearances. This stint was the last time that he managed to finish a season without being sacked by his club.


His last cap for Ecuador came in November 2007 in a 5-1 win against Peru in a World Cup qualifier. He made a total of 53 appearances for his country scoring 16 goals, making him Ecuador's joint 4th highest goal scorer behind Agustín Delgado, Eduardo Hurtado and Alex Aguinaga.


In 2008 he joined Liga de Quito but after only two games he quit the club after a disagreement about a debt he said wasn't his. In 2009 he spent time in a drugs rehabilitation clinic and after recovering he trained with LDU Portoviejo but was not ever officially part of their squad.


After two years out of the game he returned to action for Macará in 2010, but once again he was sacked. The official reason was that he kept missing training and had other disciplinary issues. The manager of the club said that Iván always said that he wishes people would listen to him, but lots of people did listen to him and when they said things that he didn't want to hear he got angry with them.


This version of events is disputed on his official website which claims that he was forced out of the club against the manager's wishes by a group of players that have influence with the directors.


Whatever the case, it is clear that Kaviedes' career has been in serious decline since the 2006 World Cup. He is still remarkably popular amongst Ecuadorians, which is unsurprising given the flair with which he used to score goals and his place in the history of Ecuadorian football is safe thanks to his goal to earn Ecuador their first ever World Cup appearance.


It is hard to say why he failed at Crystal Palace since he was barely given an opportunity to play for the club, but like Southampton flop and international strike partner Agustín Delgado it is clear from his achievements before and after his short spell in English football that he was a quality player.

Part of the What ever happened to? series.

What ever happened to? Federico Arias

In January 2003 Southampton F.C. signed a 23 year old Argentine striker on loan from Vélez Sársfield with the option to buy. Federico Arias had plenty of experience having played over 80 competitive games between his hometown club Rosario Central and Vélez Sársfield  mainly in the Argentine Primera Division but also 12 appearances in the Copa Libertadores for Central.

The Southampton team were full of praise for Arias, manager Gordon Strachan said "he looks a useful player and is very quick and hopefully he will make us stronger" while chief scout terry Cooper said "He has two excellent feet. I watched him three times and could not tell which was his best. He is a great crosser of the ball, too. His nickname is the Torpedo and it is easy to see why - he is explosive over 20 metres. The Argentinians I have seen usually have good technique on the ball but not many have this kind of pace."

It may have been wise for Southampton fans to be wary of such enthusiasm about new South American signings given the situation with the Ecuadorian pair Agustín Delgado and Cleber Chalá. Cynics amongst the Saints faithful were proven right fairly soon. Within six months of joining Southanpton and without ever taking to the field in a competitive game for them, Arias was back in Argentina. He continued to play for Vélez Sársfield until 2005, but was used sparsely only making 19 appearances for the club over the space of the entire two and a half years he was with them. He was part of the Vélez Sársfield squad that won the Argentine Primera Division in Clausura 2005, but played in few of the games.

It was clear from his lack of game time that Arias was no longer part of Vélez Sársfield's long term plans and later in 2005 he joined Quilmes. After a poor season in which Quilmes finished in 17th place and Arias only made six appearances he joined Argentine 2nd division side Belgrano de Córdoba in 2006, who then finished 2nd in the Clausura tournament earning them the chance to play in a promotion/relegation playoff against Olimpo de Bahía Blanca. Arias featured in the playoff games which were both won 2-1 by Belgrano earning them promotion to the Primera División.

Unfortunately for Arias, he never got the chance to return to the Primera División, as he was offloaded to Peruvian side side Sporting Cristal as part of Belgrano's extensive rebuilding process aimed at securing survival in the top flight.

Sporting Cristal had a poor Clausura, falling back from their 2nd place finish the previous season to end up in mid table. Arias only contributed 2 league goals in the campaign, not nearly enough to justify his wages so he was offloaded to another Peruvian side; Coronel Bolognesi at the beginning of 2007. Arias had a worse time at his new club, they finished bottom of the table in Apertura 2007 and Arias did not score a single goal for them.

During the European summer transfer window Arias put his Italian passport to good use by joining Italian Serie C1/B side Martina Franca. For the first time in several years he managed to complete a full season with a club, however at the end of the season he was not kept on.

Arias returned to South America to join Melipilla of the Chilean Primera Division but in September 2008 his contract was terminated by mutual agreement mainly because he had failed to score a single goal for the club. At the end of the season Melipilla were relegated, but by then he was long gone.

Arias next showed up back in the Argentine 2nd division playing for a small team in his home town called Tiro Federal in 2009. He did not stay with them for long, they tried to offload him onto Australian side Newcastle Jets in July 2009, but despite positive first impressions they didn't sign him on a permanent basis.

In August 2009 his career took him to his 7th different country when he joined Yaracuyanos FC of the Venezuelan 2nd division where he played until December 2009. In March 2010 he signed for Aldosivi back in the Argentine 2nd division alongside another international journeyman footballer familiar to many English football fans; one time "new Maradona", ex-Middlesbrough player Carlos Marinelli.

According to one of the most reliable sources of Argentine football statistics he now plays in the regionalised 3rd division for Los Andes, but on closer inspection it turns out to be a completely different Federico Arias, who was born in 1988 and would only have been 10 years old when our Federico Arias made his professional debut for Rosario Central on 21 November 1998 in a 2-3 home defeat to Boca Juniors.

So what can I say? If the Argentine football statisticians don't even know what happened to him and have resorted to just making it up, I'm at a loss. The only answer to the question of what happened to Federico Arias is that after many years as an international journeyman footballer he completely disappeared into obscurity.

Part of the What ever happened to? series.

What ever happened to? Diego Gavilán

Gavilán in Newcastle colours.

In 1999 Newcastle United became the first English side to sign a Paraguayan player by signing 19 year old midfielder Diego Gavilán from Paraguayan side Cerro Porteño for a fee of £2 million after he played in the 1999 Copa América where he was one of the youngest players in the squad after Roque Santa Cruz and Nelson Cuevas..

Newcastle were building a team studded with South American players and by the 2000-01 season Newcastle had Gavilán, Nolberto Solano, Clarence Acuña, and Cristian Bassedas in midfield.


Gavilán made his league debut in a 2-2 draw with Sunderland but he never established himself as a first team player, he only ever started 2 games for Newcastle and made a further 6 appearances as a substitute. He scored his only goal for the club in a 2-0 win against Coventry City in April 2000.


By 2002 it was clear that Gavilán was not part of Newcastle United's long term plans so he was sent out on loan to a succession of clubs. He played for UAG Tecos of Mexico between 2001 and 2002 and while he was there he was picked to play for Paraguay in the 2002 World Cup where he played in all 3 of Paraguay's group games. He spent 2003 with Internacional of Brazil where he won the 2003 Campeonato Gaúcho. In 2004 he returned to Europe to join Italian side Udinese.


When Gavilán's contract with Newcastle expired in 2004 he returned to Internacional of Porto Alegre, Brazil where he was won another Campeonato Gaúcho in 2005 and was part of the squad that finished as runners up in the Brasiliero 2005, although he had already left to join Argentine club Newell's Old Boys by the time the Brasiliero had finished.

Gavilán played 43 times for
the Paraguay national team.

Gavilán enjoyed 2 seasons with Newell's where he played alongside fellow Paraguay internationals Justo Villar, Oscar Cardoso and Santiago Salcedo. During this time he was selected for his 2nd Paraguay World Cup squad but he did not play in any of the games in 2006. He made his 43rd and last appearance for Paraguay in 2007.

After the summer of 2007 he returned to Puerto Alegre in Brazil to play for Grêmio who are the traditional rivals of his former team Internacional. He only stayed with Grêmio for the remainder of 2007. In 2008 he had short stints with two more Brazilian teams Portuguesa and Flamengo where he was part of the squad that won the 2008 Campeonato Carioca, his 3rd Brazilian state championship.

In 2009 he returned to Argentina to play for Avellaneda giants Independiente but he only made 5 league appearances for the club before being released after Américo Gallego took over as manager.

In 2010 he returned to Paraguay to play for Olimpia, the fierce local rivals of his first club Cerro Porteño, it is the second time in his career that he betrayed one of his former clubs by joining their fiercest local rivals and at 30 years of age it seems that he still has a good few years left to make a surprise return to England to play for Sunderland!

See also

Diego Gavilán video - Portuguesa

Diego Gavilán video - Olimpia

Part of the What ever happened to? series.

What ever happened to? Carlos Marinelli

Marinelli celebrates a goal with his Middlesbrough team mates.

Carlos Marinelli was touted as the "new Maradona" to anyone stupid enough to listen to over enthusiastic Middlesbrough FC fans when he joined their club in 2000 from Argentine giants Boca Juniors for a fee of £1.5m. It is not clear who lumbered the lad with the tag, in all probability it Marinelli's agent talking him up to get a good price and the British press trying to hype up the story. It was then repeated by many Middlesbrough fans (until they actually saw him play that is).

I don't want to be hard on the man, he was a teenager in a cold and smoggy city thousands of miles away from his home in Buenos Aires and he was never going to be as good as Maradona, so the "new Maradona" tag was an unfair burden. He did have a couple of good performances for the Boro, most notably netting two goals in a 5-1 win against Derby County in November 2001.

Boro fans will know that he failed to earn himself a regular place in the first team and made the majority of his appearances as a substitute. He was eventually farmed out on loan to Italian 2nd division side Torino FC, before joining the Italian club permanently in 2003 after making 53 appearances for the Teessiders in all competitions (29 as a substitute), netting only 4 goals.

Marinelli during his time in American "soccer"
with Kansas City Wizards.

In 2004 Marinelli returned to Argentina where he made a handful of appearances for his first club Boca Juniors and then a few more for Racing Club but he didn't settle at either club. He then had a stint with SC Braga of Portugal where he barely managed to get on the pitch.

The most regular run of first team football of Marinelli's career was probably his time at Kansas City Wizards between 2007 and 2008 where he held down a first team place making 41 appearances. he eventually left the club after a bust up with manager Curt Onalfo. He is remembered by Wizards fans as an unmotivated and infuriating player who wasted his potential.

Marinelli left the US to join one of the best names in world football, fallen Colombian giants Millonarios, (who were one of the best clubs in the world in the 1950s). He never settled there and was soon offloaded, he then showed up back in Argentina playing for 2nd division side Aldosivi in 2010, but was released by the club at the end of the 2009-10 season.



In September 2010 he joined Győri ETO of the Hungarian first division but again his stay there was a short one and in 2011 he turned up at Peruvian champions Universidad San Martín where he put in a brilliant substitute performance in a 2-0 win against San Luis in the 2011 Copa Libertadores.

It doesn't matter how many lies are added to Wikipedia to make him look a better player by his agent or greatest fan, he never lived up to the promise he showed as a teenager, he never scored enough goals, he has been criticised for ineffectual performances and lack of discipline on the field and for his poor attitude off it.

To give him some credit he has kept on playing and his career as an international journeyman footballer has given him a much wider experience in life than most of his armchair critics back in England. He has lived and played professional football in Argentina, England, Italy, Portugal, United States, Colombia and Hungary after all.

Part of the What ever happened to? series.