Six players to watch in the Argentine Primera

Provided a strike doesn’t prompt another delay to the Argentine football calendar, on Friday evening actual Primera action will be making the headlines rather than scandal and farce at the AFA. After an extra-long summer break, the season resumes and leaders Boca Juniors will be hoping to hold off any challengers. After plenty of transfer activity, here are six players who will be vital to their clubs over the next few months. 

Ricardo Centurion - Boca Juniors 

Boca’s season gradually gathered momentum after suffering defeat on the opening weekend but after finding their groove, going unbeaten for the remainder of the year and celebrating a famous victory in the Monumental, the talismanic Carlos Tevez departed for China. Guillermo Barros Schelotto is all too aware that with no Copa Libertadores distraction, lifting the Primera title is paramount and without Tevez driving Boca forward, much of the on-field responsibility will fall to Ricardo Centurion. 

Usually operating out wide while Tevez roamed as the side’s number ten, Centurion looks likely to be given that license to move inside and provide the creativity behind either Dario Benedetto or Walter Bou. 

Questions will always be asked of the 24-year-old’s mentality but there is no doubting his talent. The former Racing youngster already has five league goals this season and will now need to add even more end product to his game. Amid a highlights reel of nutmegs and trickery, Centurion provided only one assist and if he is to replace Tevez effectively, this must increase.  

Emanuel Cecchini - Banfield 

Julio Cesar Falcioni’s Banfield were one of the surprise packages of the first half of the season but just as their weekend opponents Boca must contend without Carlos Tevez, El Taladro are missing two experienced figureheads in Santiago Silva and Walter Erviti. El Taladro will therefore be looking for even more from their youngsters and 20-year-old Emanuel Cecchini is the pick of the bunch. 

Cecchini has displayed an enormous amount of maturity in his central midfield role under Falcioni showing the combative qualities of a traditional number five and the creativity of a more forward thinking number eight in almost equal measure.  

As the Banfield midfielder with the highest number of tackles per game (2.2) Cecchini plays an important role in protecting the back four, but in Erviti’s absence, will perhaps be required to have more of an influence further up the field. Having scored twice already this season, if Cecchini can add some more goals and assists to his game, El Taladro will have themselves an incredibly rounded talent. 

Luciano Lollo - River Plate 

Were it not for Luciano Lollo’s dreadful injury record over the past couple of years it is more than likely that the 29-year-old central defender would be plying his trade in Europe. As it is River Plate took a gamble on the Cordoba-born player and prized him away from Racing but if Lollo can find his way off the treatment table, Los Millonarios have a formidable looking defence 

When Racing lifted the 2014 Transicion, the strike force of Diego Milito and Gustavo Bou stole the headlines, but the defensive work of Lollo was equally important. La Academia conceded once in the last nine matches as Diego Cocca’s side ended the club’s trophy drought. 

River signed Lollo back in June, but injuries have hindered his progress at the Monumental. However, back training, if Marcelo Gallardo can get the defender consistently fit, there will be few better central defensive partnerships than Lollo and Jonathan Maidana. 

Gustavo Bou - Racing Club 

Racing’s poor first half of the season has sparked change at the Cilindro and in an effort to recapture form, La Academia have turned to title winning coach Diego Cocca. When Racing lifted the 2014 Transicion under Cocca, Gustavo Bou was sensational and supporters in Avellaneda will be hoping that their reunion will again draw the best of La Pantera. 

Bou has scored four times this season, but like the rest of the side struggled for consistency and didn’t ever really suit the conservative tactics of previous manager Ricardo Zielinski. In their friendlies this month, the 27-year-old has shown flashes of his brilliance and a reminder of why European scouts were previously paying close attention. 

A knee injury to Lisandro Lopez will mean even more responsibility will fall on Bou, not only for goals, but for experience alongside some of Racing’s talented young players. 

Walter Erviti - Independiente 

Independiente president Hugo Moyano said after the club presented their recent signings, “I don’t want to exaggerate, but this team will be a sensation.” No pressure then. Aside from striker Emmanuel Gigliotti and midfielder Nery Dominguez, the man that seems central to new manager Ariel Holan’s plans is veteran Walter Erviti. 

El Rojo have been crying out for some creativity in the number ten role having struggled for goals, and while the 36-year-old doesn’t present a long-term solution, based on his form in the first half of the season at Banfield, Erviti could provide that in the present. 

With 2.1 key passes on average per game, Erviti has been one of most dynamic offensive players in the Primera this season and if the former Boca Juniors midfielder can continue this form, it should increase Independiente’s goal threat. 

Emanuel Reynoso - Talleres 

After a difficult start to life in the Primera, Talleres swiftly put the opening five matches without a win behind them to rattle off an eight-match unbeaten run. After missing that earlier winless streak, Emanuel Reynoso established himself in Frank Kudelka’s starting XI and the 21-year-old has since been La T’s highest rated player. 

A talented product of Talleres’ academy, Reynoso’s career was almost over before it began when he was shot in the knee during an attempted robbery in 2014, but after a lengthy rehabilition, Bebelo is making up for lost time. 

The diminutive playmaker has two assists for the season and averages 1.9 key passes per match. If Talleres are to continue enjoying success in the top flight, Reynoso is likely to be central to that.