A striker from Santa Fe, Argentina, Luciano Gabriel ‘Lucho’ Figueroa Herrera began playing professional football with Rosario Central, an Argentine club. Forming a formidable partnership with Cesar Delgado, Figueroa went on to score 17 goals, in the 2003 Clausura, bagging himself the top spot amongst goal scorers. After this successful season, Delgado & Figueroa moved abroad and Figueroa joined Birmingham City, an English Premier League club, for 2.5 million Pounds.

His move to England was marked with controversy when Osasuna, a Spanish club, claimed to have a contract with Figueroa, making his move to Birmingham City invalid. But this claim was annulled by FIFA in October, 2003 and Figueroa began playing for the English club. With Birmingham though he mostly remained with the reserve team, and performed quite well there. Team manager, Steve Bruce, doubted his performance in the Premiership, mainly due to his physique, and after just one League appearance, his contract with the club was annulled.

Position Forward
Height / weight 1.83 m /
Born 19 May 1981
Nationality Argentina Argentina
Nickname Lucho
Team History
Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C. 2018
Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C. 2013 - 2015
Club Sport Emelec Club Sport Emelec 2012 - 2013
Panathinaikos FC Panathinaikos 2013
Club Atletico Rosario Central Club Atletico Rosario Central 2010 - 2012
372 genoa cfc Genoa 2006 - 2010
924 club atletico boca juniors Club Atletico Boca Juniors 2008 - 2009 (loan)
138 villarreal cf Villarreal 2004 - 2006
Club Atletico River Plate Club Atletico River Plate 2006
Club Deportivo Cruz Azul 2004
Club Atletico Rosario Central Club Atletico Rosario Central 2001 - 2003
276 birmingham city Birmingham City 2003

Figueroa moved to Mexico, where he joined forces with former partner Delgado, joining Cruz Azul. In the 2004 Clausura, Figueroa scored 9 goals for the club, in the last seven games. Keeping up the upward climb, he further scored 10 goals in the 14 games he played for the 2004 Apertura. After this exceptional performance, Figueroa was soon transferred to Villarreal in the same year, for 1.2 million pounds.

The move to Villarreal was not the highlight of Figueroa’s career, and even though he scored many important goals for the club he was not able to make a significant impact with his performance. Finally in 2006, he returned to River Plate on loan. This move seemed like a good one for the footballer, with three goals in his first seven matches in the 2006 Clausura. But this start was followed by tragedy when he suffered ligament damage in March, which marked the end of his stint with River Plate.

The same year, Villarreal sold Figueroa to Genoa, a Serie B club, consisting of a contract for four years for a fee of $13 million. But due to the injury, he was able to play his first match for the team only in October, 2007, where he appeared as a second-half substitute. He scored for the team after another six weeks, helping them defeat Siena. Currently Figueroa is on loan to Boca Juniors.

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