Erik Manuel Lamela is an Argentine football player who has the jersey number 11 of Tottenham Hotspur. He plays the position of a winger, also called an attacking midfielder, since 2009. His best and highly-praised skill is his ability to dribble on the field. The nickname “Coco” was given to him due to his good dribbling skill. FIFA 2011 U-20 World Cup was his first international play, representing the Argentina National Football Team. Since he began playing professionally in 2009, Erik has only been a part of three clubs. As of 2017, he remains to be unmarried with no dependencies. Though, he is currently in a serious long-term relationship.
Early Life
Erik was born on March 04, 1992 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He has shown early interest in soccer and has made his breakthrough to the sport as early as seven years old. He has joined River Plates for their youth side division. Around this age, Barcelona has also offered a deal with him. The condition given to him is that he and his family will get 100,000 Pounds a year, secured employment for his parents in Barcelona, and a house for them to call their own. Despite the big offer, he has turned it down. At 12 years old, he grew famous for his 120 goals for River Plate that the television program, Trans World Sport, has traveled all the way to Argentina just for an interview with him.
Family
Growing up, Erik received out poured support from his parents and brothers. His father, Jose Lamela, has even predicted that he will become a big shot in football. Supporting him too is his mother, Miriam Lamela. He has two brothers, one that is older than him (Brian) and one after him (Axel). Many believe that it was Brian who was involved in an accident that caused Erik to abruptly leave for Argentina to spend time with him in the hospital for a week.
In 2013, Erik’s brother, Axel, was kidnapped in their hometown, Buenos Aires. This happened before Erik’s first game for Tottenham. It is said that Axel, who was 18 years old at that time, was taken by gunpoint by men who were not even wearing masks. They then used Axel’s phone to demand the 5,000 Argentine Peso-ransom money in exchange for his freedom. Brian, another Lamela brother, disclosed: “They told us to get the ransom money and make sure the police were not involved. They came to our front door to collect the money. They did not cover their faces and the security cameras at our house recorded them. My brother is calm. All of us think it was a random incident – they simply kidnapped him for the car and nothing else.” Policemen also said that during the time of the kidnapping, Axel was driving a flashy car which had drawn the attention of the kidnappers and that it was not meant for the Lamela family to be specifically targeted.
Personal Life
Recently, Erik has been healing from his injury since October 2016. He first had a surgery on the right side of his hip and months later, on the other side. This has hindered him from playing for Tottenham’s different matches for the rest of the 2016-2017 season. He has been healing in a facility in Rome with the companionship of Federico Fazio, his former teammate. Federico is in Rome as a loan player.
The online news site, The Telegraph, has written a report about his absence and the so-called “unfortunate reason” for his absence in the club. It was written there that “Tottenham Hotspur’s absent star Erik Lamela is struggling to get over the death of his dog Simba as he continues his rehabilitation from a hip injury in Rome. Lamela has not played for Tottenham since October last year when he first suffered a hip problem in training, which sparked a run of bad luck that has kept him out of manager Mauricio Pochettino’s side.”
On top of his injury, Erik also had to face personal problems that involved the accident of one of his brothers and the death of his dog, Simba. He had returned to Argentina when his brother got into an accident. However, contrary to reports, Erik denied the rumors that his absence is due to personal reasons. He tweeted his statement in Spanish but later on deleted the post. In one of the many reports, his now-deleted tweets were loosely translated. It said:
Clarification for people who care about me: I am in Rome healing from an injury and not for problems not related to football.
The death of my dog was months ago, and my brother’s accident wasn’t automobile related. I’m not going to answer anything [related to recent articles] but I’m annoyed that they make up this kind of thing.
Thanks to all those who encourage me day by day! I hope to return soon to the pitch.
Sofia Herrero
He is currently dating the Argentine author, Sofia Herrero. She was born in Santiago del Estero, Argentina. Through their years together, she has managed to keep her information private from the media. Though, photos of her and Erik can be seen online through his Instagram posts. These include their trips and holidays to Ibiza, Isola dei Pescatori, and Mallorca.
On June 19, 2017, Erik shared to Instagram a photo of a sonogram with the caption “Feliz día a todos los padres y para mí también ! Gracias Dios por esta bendición de esperar un bebe ! No veo la hora de conocerte Tobías 😍😍😍❤️❤️❤️ muy felizzzz. Happy Father’s Day for everyone and for me too! I can’t wait to see you Tobías ! Thank god for this blessing 😍😍😍❤️❤️❤️🙏 So happy !!! 😁😁😁🤗 👶👶👶👶,” announcing that he and Sofia are expecting.
Soccer Career
Erik started his career in 2009 as a youth player for River Plate. His first game was against Club Atlético Tigre as a substitute. It wasn’t until his game in December 2010 that he scored his first goal in a game against Club Atlético Colón. He was then signed by Roma with a fee of 12 million Euro plus a bonus of 2 million. On his first season with the team, he has played a total of 31 games and has scored a total of 6 goals. On average, he had one goal per five games.
After two seasons, Erik was transferred to Tottenham Hotspur for a fee of 25.8 million Pounds with 4.2 million bonus. He became the most expensive player for Tottenham afterward. Until today, he remains to be a part of the team. His transfer was completed on August 30, 2013.
On November 07, 2014, that he made his first goal as a player of Tottenham. But, he has already made two assists for winning goals in previous games. He made his first hat-trick, scoring at least three consecutive goals in one game, in a match against Monaco for the Europa League. This milestone in his career has led his team in winning that match.
Additionally, he plays for the Argentina National Football team and has made three goals in International competitions. His first goal was on September 03, 2014. Two years later he scored another goal on June 14, 2016, followed by another goal on June 18 of the same year.
Net Worth
His current salary is at 4 million Euro and he has a total net worth of 20 million Euro. This comes from the combined amount of his earnings from his football career and his endorsements with brands like Nike.