Erik Lamela
Erik Manuel Lamela is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or right winger. He is currently a coach of Liga MX club Monterrey.
Lamela was born on 4 March 1992 to Miriam and José Lamela in a northern suburb of Buenos Aires, Argentina. His family gave him the nickname "Coco". After he had joined River Plate as a seven-year-old, Barcelona reportedly offered Lamela and his family $160,000 USD a year as well as a house and employment for his parents to move to Barcelona in a similar deal to the one that saw Lionel Messi move to Spain as a youngster. In 2004, a Trans World Sport film crew travelled to Argentina to interview a 12-year-old Lamela who was already making headlines after scoring 120 goals for River Plate's youth side the previous season. In the video, Lamela declared his wish to follow in the footsteps of Diego Maradona and win a World Cup for Argentina.
River Plate
Lamela made his first-team debut for River Plate on 14 June 2009 in a game against Tigre for the 2009 Clausura tournament. He entered the field on the 80th minute, substituting Robert Flores. Lamela scored his first goal for River on 5 December 2010 in a match against Colón for the Apertura tournament. He scored his second goal against Lanús in the final fixture of that Apertura, helping River win the match 4–2. The midfielder was a regular starter for River during the 2010–11 Argentine Primera División season, playing 34 games and scoring four goals. He helped his team to finish in an overall sixth place that would have qualified them for the 2011 Copa Sudamericana. Due to the relegation format of the Argentine Primera that accounts for a team's last three seasons, however, River was relegated after losing a playoff with Belgrano.
Roma
On 6 August 2011, Lamela joined Italian club Roma of Serie A for a fee of €12 million, plus €2 million in bonuses, which was activated after his 20th club appearance. Roma also paid an additional €3.2 million to Orel B.V. — plus 10% added value if the player was later sold above €12 million — and €3.06 million in the form of taxes to the Government of Argentina. Lamela signed a 5-year contract worth €1.8 million in gross in the first season, but would gradually increase by €350,000 on 1 July 2012 (to €2.15M), 2014 (€2.5M) and 2015 (€2.85M). On 23 October 2011, he scored his first goal in Serie A against Palermo. Later, he scored goals against Lecce, Novara, and Cesena. Lamela ended his first season at the Stadio Olimpico with six goals in 31 games in all competitions.
Tottenham Hotspur
On 30 August 2013, Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur completed the transfer of Lamela from Roma for a deal worth an initial £25.8 million, plus up to £4.2 million in bonus payments. The fee for Lamela made him the most expensive player in the club's history, breaking the two previous records that had been set earlier in the transfer window, first for Paulinho and then Roberto Soldado. On 1 September, Lamela made his debut for Tottenham as a 75th-minute substitute in a 1–0 North London derby loss to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. On 19 September, he made his first start for Tottenham against Tromsø IL in the UEFA Europa League, assisting Jermain Defoe for Tottenham's opening goal in a 3–0 win at White Hart Lane. On 22 September, he assisted Paulinho's stoppage-time winning goal after appearing as a substitute in Tottenham's 1–0 win at Cardiff City.
Sevilla
On 26 July 2021, Lamela left Tottenham, signing for Sevilla in a swap deal for Bryan Gil. He scored two goals on his La Liga debut in a 3–0 victory over Rayo Vallecano. He scored four goals and assisted twice in the first four months at the club, however, he suffered a shoulder injury while training in November 2021, and was out for four months. In May 2023, he scored a goal in extra time in the Europa League semi-final against Juventus to win 3–2 on aggregate, which sent Sevilla to the final. There, facing his former club Roma, Lamela scored Sevilla's second penalty in the penalty shoot-out following a 1–1 tie after extra time. Sevilla eventually won 4–1 on penalties, earning Lamela his first professional career title. In May 2024, Lamela left Sevilla following the expiration of his contract.
AEK Athens
On 21 July 2024, Lamela signed a three-year deal for Greek club AEK Athens as a free agent, with a club record contract fee of €2.5 million per year, totaling €7.5 million throughout the duration of his contract. On 14 August 2025, Lamela and AEK parted ways before Lamela announced his retirement from professional football. Shortly after, he joined the Sevilla coaching staff.
Lamela took part in the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup with the Argentina national under-20 team and scored three goals in four matches. Lamela made his debut with the Argentina national team on 25 May 2011 in a friendly game against Paraguay. On 3 September 2014, Lamela scored his first goal for the senior national team, putting Argentina 2–0 ahead against Germany, in an eventual 4–2 win in a rematch of the World Cup final. In May 2015, Lamela was selected by coach Gerardo Martino in Argentina's squad for the 2015 Copa América held in Chile. In 2016, Lamela was selected by coach Gerardo Martino in Argentina's squad for the 2016 Copa América. Lamela was part of the Argentine side that ran to the final. He appeared in all of Argentina's group stage matches, and scored a goal in the 3–0 win against Bolivia with a long-range free kick. He scored again in the 4–1 win in the quarter-final against Venezuela minutes after coming on as a sub. In the final against Chile, he only appeared as a sub in extra time in the 111th minute, which Chile won 4–2 on penalties.
Lamela's partner of many years is Sofia Herrero. The couple have two sons: Tobias, born 2017 and Thiago, born in 2020. He also holds Spanish citizenship, his full name in that document being Erik Manuel Lamela Cordero[a].
