Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

Gabriel Iván Heinze (born April 19, 1978 in
Crespo, Argentina|Crespo, Entre Ríos Province) is
an Argentina|Argentine football (soccer) player
who currently plays for the FA Premier
League|English team Manchester United
F.C.|Manchester United as a left-back, having
transferred from Paris Saint-Germain in the summer
of 2004. 

The player, who has a Germany|German father and an
Italy|Italian mother, began his career in his
homeland with Newell's Old Boys. Somewhat
bizarrely, Heinze can speak Welsh language|Welsh.
He hails from Patagonia, an area where many Welsh
people settled in the 19th century and as such the
language is spoken to some degree. 

He soon drew the attention of European scouts and
in 1997 was snapped up by Spain|Spanish outfit
Real Valladolid. Leaving his homeland at such a
young age without having turned out for the
national side, the tough-tackling, left-footed
centre-back was barely known in his home nation.
He was then loaned to Portugal|Portuguese side
Sporting Lisbon for the 1998/1999|99 campaign. 

On his return to Spain he established himself as a
star of the Valladolid side, building up a
reputation as a powerful left-sided player with
good aerial ability. That led to a move to Paris
Saint Germain in 2001, where he continued to
impress. In 2003/2004|04 he picked up a French Cup
winners' medal and a Ligue 1 runners-up medal. 

Heinze played in the Football at the 2004 Summer
Olympics|gold medal winning Argentina national
football team|Argentine team at the 2004 Summer
Olympics. Heinze was part of another impressive
defensive effort as Argentina strolled through the
tournament without conceding a goal. It is worth
noting that when playing for Argentina, Heinze is
generally used on the left-hand side of a
three-man back line, and does not get forward as
much as he does in his left-back role at club
level.

Gabriel holds an Italy|Italian passport but opted
to play for the nation of his birth, Argentina.
Yet he was still an unknown back in Argentina -
when he earned his fifth cap against Ecuador
national football team|Ecuador he had to be
introduced to fans in the press back home. His
performances for PSG have earned him a place in
Argentina's Football World Cup 2006
(qualification)|qualificationsquad for the
Wc|2006. As the defender prepared for Argentina's
World Cup qualifying matches in May he was linked
with Manchester United. A couple of weeks later he
signed a five-year contract at Old Trafford. 

Heinze has built up a reputation as a powerful,
no-nonsense defender. He is also renowned for his
tenacity and leadership qualities and is dominant
in the air. He arrived in England with a
reputation as a 'hardman'. One newspaper in France
ran a poll to discover which player fans thought
was the roughest defender in French football -
Heinze was the unequivocal winner. The signing of
the Argentinian brought to an end a long search
for a much needed new left-back for Sir Alex
Ferguson and Manchester United. 

He marked his debut for United in September 2004
with a goal in the 2-2 draw against Bolton
Wanderers and immediately established himself as
United's first choice left-back with a number of
highly impressive performances. The Manchester
United fans have taken to the Argentine for his
dedication on the pitch. Heinze's impressive play
is regularly lauded by United fans with the
familiar chant of "Ar-gen-tina!" Heinze was voted
Manchester United fans' player of the year for the
season 2004-2005, beating top-scorer Wayne Rooney,
and is the first South American to do so. In
August 2005 he was voted by the fans as Best
defence player in the history of Paris
Saint-Germain.

==Playing Career (All competitions)==
{| border=2 cellpadding=3 cellspacing=0 width=40%
border=1 style="border-collapse:collapse"|
|- align=left
!bgcolor=#77aaff width=20%|Season
!bgcolor=#77aaff width=40%|Club
!bgcolor=#77aaff width=10%|Games
!bgcolor=#77aaff width=10%|Goals
|- align=left bgcolor=#D0E7FF
|1997-98||Newell's Old Boys||8||0
|- align=left bgcolor=#F5FAFF
|1997-98||Real Valladolid||0||0
|- align=left bgcolor=#D0E7FF
|1998-99||Sporting CP||5||1
|- align=left bgcolor=#F5FAFF
|1999-2000||Real Valladolid||18||0
|- align=left bgcolor=#D0E7FF
|2000-01||Real Valladolid||36||1
|- align=left bgcolor=#F5FAFF
|2001-02||Paris Saint Germain||37||0
|- align=left bgcolor=#D0E7FF
|2002-03||Paris-SG||39||2
|- align=left bgcolor=#F5FAFF
|2003-04||Paris-SG||33||2
|- align=left bgcolor=#D0E7FF
|2004-05||Manchester United F.C.||33||1
|- align=left bgcolor=#F5FAFF
|2005-06||Manchester United F.C.
(Current
Season)||4||2
|}