The most high-profile transfer of this year’s Super League and one of the most important of all time for Greek football is a fact: Erik Lamela will wear the yellow and black shirt of AEK in the 2024-25 season, causing shivers of emotion and enthusiasm in the stands of the OPAP Arena.
Eric Manuel Lamela Cordero, as his full name is, has signed a three-year contract that is legendary by Greek standards. The information says that it has never been given to another player at the club, and is worth around 2.5 million euros per year.
The announcement:
“PAE AEK announces the acquisition of Erik Lamela. The Argentine international star has signed a cooperation contract with our team until the summer of 2027.
Erik Lamela was born on March 4, 1992 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. As a child, he joined the River Plate Academy and from a very young age his performances and goals in the youth teams aroused the interest of clubs in Europe.
At the age of 17, he made his debut in the River Plate first team, with whom he made a total of 36 appearances (4 goals, 6 assists) over the following two years. In the summer of 2011, he moved to Europe, with Roma paying a total of €17.2 million to sign him.
In Italy he had two excellent years (2011-2013), with 67 appearances, 21 goals and 13 assists, which led Tottenham to spend more than 30 million euros (a record amount in its history at the time) to bring him to the club. England.
Over the next eight years, he was a key member of the Londoners, making 257 appearances (37 goals and 44 assists). In fact, a goal of extraordinary beauty that he scored with the ball, in a game against Arsenal in the 2020-2021 season, was voted the goal of the season in England and later awarded by FIFA and the Puskas Award for 2021.
In July of the same year, he moved to Spain for Sevilla, with whom he played 92 matches in the following three years (16 goals, 7 assists) and celebrated with them winning the Europa League in the 2022-2023 season.
Lamela is an international for the Argentine Men’s National Team, for which he made his debut on March 25, 2011, against Paraguay, and to date has played 25 matches and scored three goals.
Eric, welcome to the AEK family!”.