Ignacio María González

Ignacio 'Nacho' María González Gatti (Spanish pronunciation: [iɣˈna.sjo maˈɾi.a ɣonˈsa.les]; born 14 May 1982) is an Uruguayan professional footballer who plays for Club Nacional de Football as a midfielder.

Club career

Born in Montevideo, González's professional career began at Danubio FC, where he appeared in a total of 170 games, scoring more than 50 official goals for the capital-based outfit. During his spell with the club he won the Uruguayan League twice, in 2004 and 2007.

After his performances for Danubio, González eventually moved to France with AS Monaco FC in January 2008, being scarcely used during his six-month loan spell. On 27 April, he scored in a 2–3 Ligue 1 home loss against Olympique de Marseille.

González was then bought by Valencia CF of La Liga. However, on 1 September 2008, he joined Newcastle United on loan until the end of the season.^[1] This move was the final straw for the latter's manager Kevin Keegan, who claimed he was forced to sign the player by the club's executive director Dennis Wise after only seeing him play on YouTube, and believing the player was not good enough for the team.^[2]

González picked up a serious achilles tendon injury early into the season (with only two appearances to his credit), ruling him out of playing action for four months.^[3] Team coach Chris Hughton was quoted on the team's official website, in February 2009, as saying that González was recovering well, and was certain the player would feature again before his return to Valencia. However he did not, and returned to the Che in July 2009; a Premier League tribunal confirmed in October 2009 that the loan singing of González had been against manager Keegan's wishes, and was in breach of his contract, resulting in a compensation payout to Keegan. The deal was reportedly done by Wise and Mike Ashley, as a 'favour' for two South American agents.^[4]

After not having appeared once during 2009–10, González was loaned by Valencia to Greece's Levadiakos FC,^[5] in a deal running until the end of the campaign. Subsequently, he returned to Spain in the same predicament, signing with newly promoted Levante UD; after suffering a serious knee ligament injury in September in a 0–0 home draw against Real Madrid, he failed to appeared again for the club, and returned to Valencia in the following transfer window.

In late July 2011, González rescinded his link with Valencia and joined Belgian club Standard Liège.

International career

González made his debut for the Uruguayan national team in a 1–2 defeat to England on 1 March 2006, coming on as a late substitute at Anfield.

Subsequently, he was part of the 2007 Copa América squad which finished fourth: in the semifinal against Brazil, González was brought on at halftime, as the nation fought back to 2–2 to take the game into extra time. He then scored in the penalty shootout, but Uruguay were eliminated.

González scored his first international goal in a 3–1 friendly win over Japan on 20 August 2008, at the Sapporo Dome. He was picked for the national team squad which appeared at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, playing 63 minutes of the group stage opener against France (0–0 draw)^[6] as the Charrúas reached the semifinals.

International goals

Honours

Danubio

• Uruguayan League: 2004, 2006–07

References

External links

• L'Équipe stats (French)
• Nacho González French league stats at LFP.fr (French)
• Nacho González career stats at Soccerbase
• BDFutbol profile
• Nacho González at National-Football-Teams.com
• National team data (Spanish)