Lazio Player

Cristian Ledesma (born 24 September 1982 in Puerto Madryn) is an Argentine football midfielder currently playing for S.S. Lazio in Rome, Italy. He transferred from U.S. Lecce to Lazio in 2006.

Ledesma is a central midfielder with excellent vision and great technical ability. His role is mainly in build up play and creating goalscoring chances. Ledesma has a powerful shot, and occasionally scores goals from long range. His most famous goal from distance, coming in the Derby della Capitale of December 2006, which gave Lazio the lead over Roma.

His jersey number at Lazio is 24, his date of birth.

Career

He spent his childhood in Puerto Madryn, in the province of Chubut, Argentina. He joined the youth system of top Argentine club Boca Juniors.

In 2001 he was noticed by Lecce, whose sports director Pantaleo Corvino decided to bring Ledesma to Salento, where he immediately became a regular in the team. At Lecce, despite being young, he was captain until November 2005.

In July 2006, Roman club Lazio signed Ledesma, after Lecce were relegated to Serie B. With Lazio, Ledesma signed a contract that worth 450,000 euro per season until 2011.

Ledesma's first year in the capital, the 2006-07 season, saw him establish himself as a key player despite a difficult start. His first moment of magic, came in the Derby, when he scored a rocket of a strike from 25 metres out. He continued this good form until the end of the season, by which time Lazio had qualified for the UEFA Champions League.

Ledesma's standout first season in Rome, attracted the interest of Spanish outfit Real Betis who were willing to offer up to 20 million euro for him. Lazio president Claudio Lotito refused, yet Ledesma stated if Lazio failed to reach the group stages of the Champions League, he would make a transfer to Spain.

Following these comments, which many at Lazio were disappointed to hear, Lazio did indeed progress to the group stages, yet Ledesma had a difficult season, struggling to recapture the form of the year gone by.

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