Walter Samuel (born March 23, 1978 in Laborde, Cordoba
Province) is an Argentine football (soccer) player who currently
plays for Internazionale of the Italian league, and for the
Argentine national team.
Samuel started playing professionally in 1996 in Argentina for
Newell's Old Boys, and a year later moved to Boca Juniors where
he stayed until 2000. In that year AS Roma bought his pass for
22,250,000 US Dollars. He gained notoriety as one of the best
defense players of the Italian league, which attracted interest
from Spanish team Real Madrid. Real paid 25,000,000 Euros (almost
30,000,000 US Dollars) for his transfer in 2004. But Samuel had
a poor performance that season, and in August 2005 he returned
to the Italian League, with a transfer to Internazionale for 16
million Euros, and a 4-year-contract of 4.8 million US Dollars
per year.
The centre-back got the nickname of Il Muro (The Wall) while
playing for AS Roma in Italy, due to his defensive skills.
He played 45 matches for the Argentine national team, scoring 4
goals. He played for his country in the 2002 World Cup. |