Arturo Vidal

Arturo Erasmo Vidal Pardo (born May 22, 1987 in Santiago, Chile) is a Chilean association football who plays for the Fußball-Bundesliga club Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Vidal can play as defender or midfielder.

Early life

Vidal was born in San Joaquín, in a small and poor neighborhood in Santiago (Chile's capital city). He was with the youth football division of Colo-Colo before his professional debut.

Club career

Vidal's professional debut came in the first leg of the 2006 Apertura Tournament final. The match was between Colo-Colo and arch rivals Universidad de Chile (football club). Vidal was called into action with less than ten minutes left in the match for Gonzalo Fierro. Colo-Colo would go on to win the game 2-1 and win the championship as well. In the following season (2006 Clausura Tournament) Vidal would become a more intricate piece of the squad and would lead Colo-Colo to their second championship win in a row. He has appeared in over thirty league matches for Colo-Colo. Vidal scored goals in all types of matches. He always had a strong relation with the net during the local league as well as the international scene where Vidal scored three goals in Colo-Colo's Copa Sudamericana 2006 campaign. During this campaign Vidal caught the eye of visiting scouts.

The 2007 Apertura Tournament will be Vidal's last with Colo-Colo, after being transferred to German club Bayer Leverkusen. The German side and Chilean side agreed that Vidal's total value was $11 million of which Bayer Leverkusen paid $7.7 million for seventy percent ownership of the player. The $11 million value surpasses the previous record for a Chilean player set last year by the $9 million purchase of former Vidal team-mate Mati Fernandez by Spanish club Villarreal CF.

International career

Vidal has represented the Chile national football team at the Under-20 level at the 2007 South American Youth Championship in Paraguay where he was the tournament's leading scorer with six goals. During the tournament he played central midfield and led the team to qualify for the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup. Most recently he was called up to make his debut for the adult side, where he started in defence against Argentina. Since making his debut with the adult side, Chile's national team coach Nelson Acosta has expressed interest in the player's services for the Copa America, while youth coach Jose Sulantay has said Vidal is a vital part to his plans in Canada. Vidal, said at last that he, with his friend and team-mate Alexis Sánchez, wanted to play the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup. Finally sulantay granted their wishes and let the player go to the World Cup where he scored against Congo(the U-20 African Champions) and Portugal. He was one of the team's most promising players as he led them Chile to grab a bronze medal by snatching third place.

Titles