Juan Sebastian Veron: A 'Expletive Deleted' Great Player

Sir Alex Ferguson was a man for whom a sweary tirade came pretty naturally, but for the most part, these were confined to the private realm. In 2002, though, he made an exception, as he told a room full of journalists that they were not that bright, and Juan Sebastian Veron was really good at football (h/t FourFourTwo). 

The language may have been a little more colourful than that. Ferguson made it clear he believed Veron was a great player.

And, as he so often was, Sir Alex was absolutely right.

Veron hit the headlines earlier this year when, at the age of 41, he turned out for his boyhood club, Estudiantes. You can do that sort of thing when you are the chairman of the team you played for as a teenager. At least you can if you are Juan Sebastian Veron.

That might have been seen as a publicity stunt, but for the fact that a few months down the line, Veron, now 42, is turning out for El Leon in the Copa Libertadores.

As a youngster, he helped guide the team back to the top flight—he had made his debut in their 1993/94 relegation season but became a regular during their one-season stay in the second tier.

His Estudiantes connection played a part in his eventual decision to move to Manchester United. In 2016, he told The Independent:

"

I knew United was a great club, my dad [Estudiantes legend Juan Ramon Veron] had told me about [George] Best, [Denis] Law and [Bobby] Charlton from when he played against them in the ’68 Intercontinental Cup final.

I saw the Estudiantes crest (in the Old Trafford museum) with my dad’s face as a cartoon. That was emotional. I felt like I was walking in the footsteps of my father.

"

In truth, while La Brujita—"the Little Witch"—may have been given his nickname in honour of his father being known as La Bruja—"the Witch"—Veron ploughed his own furrow. Veron Sr. was not a one-club man, but he did spend the majority of his career at Estudiantes. Junior was much more peripatetic.

Veron's first big move came in 1996, when he headed for one of Argentina's big boys, Boca Juniors, where he played alongside Diego Maradona. In 2009, Maradona said of Veron, per Goal.com, "I knew he was a winner, for his personality and the way he controls the ball. You could already tell that he would have a great career." 

More recently, in classic "it could only happen to Diego" circumstances, the two men got into a row at a charity "Match for Peace," though both played down its seriousness in the aftermath, per Fox Sports. 

Their time together at Boca was brief, as Veron made the trip to Europe. He joined Sampdoria, spending a couple of seasons there, trying to avoid getting into fights with Roberto Mancini.  Under Sven-Goran Eriksson—with whom he would later link up at Lazio to great effect—Veron's reputation grew, earning him a move to the legendary late 1990s Parma side with whom he won the Coppa Italia and the UEFA Cup.

The 1998/99 Parma squad is a feast of nostalgia for those who grew up watching James Richardson's Football Italia on Channel Four. Veron played with Hernan Crespo, Fabio Cannavaro, Faustino Asprilla and Lilian Thuram. In goal was a young Gianluigi Buffon.

They finished a long way short of AC Milan in the league, but their cup runs provided the success that team deserved.

Veron only stayed a season, before rejoining Eriksson at Lazio, who were ready for a serious run at the Serie A title. He lined up in midfield alongside his compatriot Diego Simeone—Argentinian silk and steel alongside one another.

It was a powerhouse side. As well as Simeone, he could count Pavel Nedved, Alen Boksic, Marcelo Salas, Mancini (with whom he had made up), Fabrizio Ravanelli and Alessandro Nesta among his team-mates. Eriksson's men pipped Juventus to top spot. La Brujita's stock had never been higher.

When United's interest became serious in 2001, Phil Shaw of the The Independent wrote his capture would mean, "The suspicion that Manchester United were unable or unwilling to compete for the world's best players [would] be emphatically dispelled." Such was the importance of his potentially era-defining signing. 

We asked United fans for some of their favourite Veron memories.

Signing Veron shifted the notion of what United could do in the transfer market. Ferguson had competed at the top end of domestic transfers, signing Andy Cole from Newcastle United and Roy Keane from Nottingham Forest for then-British-transfer-record amounts, for example.

But this was the first time he had ever brought a world star from Serie A, that glamorous pinnacle of the 90s footballing world, directly from one of the heavyweight clubs to United. For the first generation who had played Championship Manager in their teens, this was computer-game fantasy brought to life. The digital version of Veron had a lot of 20s among his attributes.

The problem of exactly where Veron would fit into a squad that already contained Keane, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and David Beckham—who was hankering for a move to a more central role at that point—was never really solved by Sir Alex. Scholes, in particular, stood in Veron's way, with the two men occupying a very similar role.

But there were plenty of moments like those warm-ups that captured fans' attention. And the link-up between Veron and Beckham did not just happen in the warm-ups.

Everything about this goal is beautiful. Veron's pass is a thing of elegantly weighted perfection. Beckham's finish seems to be the result of a man on a quest to live up to the pass he has just received. This is the dream of Veron at United brought to life. It only ever happened in fleeting moments, but when it did, it hinted at something transcendent.

"Spurs" here, is shorthand for Manchester United's remarkable comeback at White Hart Lane in September 2001. The Red Devils were 3-0 down at half-time, but produced one of the most complete 45 minutes of football of the Ferguson era in the second half. It was Veron who put them in front making the score 4-3. It finished 5-3 thanks to Beckham adding icing to the cake, but Veron's magnificence was inarguable.

Apparently he had some good-deed karma working for him that day.

Veron told The Independent he regretted his inconsistency, but also that he wished he had not made the move to Chelsea: "If I had one frustration it was that I had highs and lows every season. I was never at a high level throughout the whole season. But I should have stayed at United and not left."

It was not just Veron who wished he had not left.

He was peripheral for Claudio Ranieri's Chelsea, with injuries hampering his ability to contribute. He returned to Italy for a successful two-season loan spell at Inter, winning two more Coppa Italia crowns and another Serie A title, to bring his total of European league winners' medals to three.

And then he went home. He spent five years at Estudiantes, then a season at amateur club Brandsen, then rejoined Estudiantes for a year, then retired to become the chairman and has now decided to play again. In spite of being 42.

He is an icon at his boyhood club, and it is easy to see why. Because after travelling the world and experiencing some massive highs, he made his boyhood club his adulthood club, too. He has become the oldest player to play in the Copa Libertadores, and all around Italy, and in parts of the north-west of England, there will be plenty of people wishing him well.

Ferguson was right. La Brujita was a great footballer. Indeed, 15 years after Sir Alex's rant, he still is.