Gabriel Heinze

Gabriel Iván Heinze (Spanish pronunciation: [ɡaˈβɾjel ˈxejnse]; born 19 April 1978) is an Argentine football coach and former player who is currently a first team coach at Premier League club Arsenal. As a player, he operated as a defender, either as a left-back or a centre-back.

Nicknamed Gringo, he made a name for himself at Paris Saint-Germain, moving in 2004 to Manchester United and subsequently to Real Madrid, winning three trophies in total with the latter two clubs. He started and finished his 18-year professional career with Newell's Old Boys.

Heinze played 72 times for the Argentina national team, including at two FIFA World Cup and two Copa América tournaments. In 2015, he began working as a manager, leading four teams in the Argentine Primera División.

Heinze was born in Crespo, Entre Ríos to a father of Volga German descent and a mother of Italian descent, thus also holding an Italian and a German passport. He began his career in his home country with Newell's Old Boys and, following attention from various European clubs, the 19-year-old signed for Real Valladolid in Spain, not managing one single La Liga appearance in his first season and also being loaned to Sporting CP in December 1998.

After the 2000–01 campaign, where he appeared in 36 league games to help the Castile and León side narrowly avoid top flight relegation, Heinze moved to Paris Saint-Germain, where he amassed over 100 overall appearances in three years, helping to the 2004 conquest of the Coupe de France.

In June 2004, Heinze joined Manchester United for a fee of £6.9million. He marked his debut on 11 September with a goal in a 2–2 away draw against Bolton Wanderers, and immediately established himself as first-choice left-back, being regularly lauded by fans with the chant of "Ar-gen-tina!" and eventually voted the club's best player for the 2004–05 season.

On 14 September 2005, Heinze was injured in a UEFA Champions League match with Villarreal and was ruled out of first-team action for the rest of the campaign. Previously, he had scored two goals in the same competition, the 3–0 second-leg qualifier away win over Debreceni. He made a comeback with the reserve team in April 2006, but a minor injury picked up in his third game back prevented him from making a first-team appearance before the end of the season. The consequence of this injury was the signing of Patrice Evra, who went on to become the club's first-choice left-back in the following years.

Heinze returned to action for United in 2006–07, and eventually won a place in the side back as a central defender, due to an injury crisis. After the team had sealed the Premier League title, he was named captain for the last two games of the season, away to Chelsea and at home to West Ham United.