Leandro Paredes Argentinian Footballer

Early life

Leandro Daniel Paredes was born on 29 June 1994 in San Justo, in the Buenos Aires area of Argentina. He came through the youth academy of Boca Juniors, the club of his childhood. He is a midfielder, and he is listed at 184 centimetres. Through his mother he has Paraguayan roots, and he speaks Guaraní fluently.

Career

Paredes made his first-team debut for Boca Juniors in November 2010, in a league match away at Argentinos Juniors that ended in a 2–0 defeat. He won the 2011 Apertura title and the 2011–12 Copa Argentina with the club. In January 2014 he went on loan to the Italian side Chievo for the remainder of that season, an arrangement set up by Roma, and in July 2014 he joined Roma on loan with an option to buy. He debuted for Roma in September 2014 as a substitute in a 2–0 win over Hellas Verona and scored his first goal for the club in February 2015 against Cagliari. Roma signed him permanently in June 2015 for six million euros.

In July 2017 he moved to the Russian club Zenit Saint Petersburg on a four-year contract, for a reported fee of 23 million euros. With Zenit he won the Russian Premier League in 2018–19. In January 2019 Paris Saint-Germain announced his signing on a four-and-a-half-year contract, with an initial fee of 40 million euros. He scored his first goal for the club in the Coupe de France in January 2020, exactly a year after joining, and his first league goal in Ligue 1 followed in April 2021, a free kick in a 4–1 win over Strasbourg. During his time in Paris he won four Ligue 1 titles, and he also took home the Coupe de France in 2019–20 and 2020–21, the Coupe de la Ligue in 2019–20 and three editions of the Trophée des Champions. PSG reached the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League final, which they lost.

In August 2022 he joined Juventus on a season-long loan with an option to buy. In August 2023 he returned to Roma on a contract running to the end of June 2025, with a reported transfer fee of around four million euros. In July 2025 he went back to Boca Juniors, the club where he began, and took the number 5 shirt. He is the captain of the team.

International career

Paredes represented Argentina at under-17 level in 2011. His first senior call-up came in May 2017 from the newly appointed coach Jorge Sampaoli, and he made his debut on 13 June 2017 in a 6–0 friendly win over Singapore, scoring in the match. He was part of the preliminary 35-man squad for the 2018 World Cup but did not make the final 23.

Under Lionel Scaloni he became a regular squad member. At the 2019 Copa América he was named in the tournament's best eleven as Argentina finished third. In the 2021 edition he converted his penalty in the semi-final shootout against Colombia, and Argentina beat Brazil 1–0 in the final to take the title. He was among the 26 players selected for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. He scored in the shootout against the Netherlands in the quarter-final and scored again in the final shootout against France, which Argentina won 4–2 after a 3–3 draw. In the quarter-final he also fouled Nathan Aké and kicked the ball toward the Dutch bench, which set off a brawl.

He was included in the squad for the 2024 Copa América, played in six matches and came on in the final against Colombia, which Argentina won 1–0. In May 2026 he was named in the squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, where Argentina finished as runners-up. His honours with the national team also include the 2022 CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions.

Personal life

Paredes is married to Camila Galante, whom he met as a teenager through her brother, who played football with him at the Boca Juniors academy. They began dating in 2010 and married on 28 December 2017. His cousin Franco is also a professional footballer.