Gabriel Iván Heinze (born 19 April 1978 in Crespo, Entre Ríos Province) is an Argentine football defender who plays for French club Marseille and internationally for Argentina. Club career Early career Heinze is of German and Italian descent, and holds dual Argentine-German nationality. He began his career in his home country with Newell's Old Boys. Following attention from various European clubs, he then signed for Spanish La Liga outfit Real Valladolid, where he did not manage one single appearance in his first season. After that, Heinze was loaned to Sporting Clube de Portugal, going unnoticed throughout the season, after which he returned for a further two Valladolid years. At the close of the 2001 season, Heinze moved to Paris Saint-Germain, where he amassed over 100 overall appearances in three seasons, also helping the capital side to the 2004 French Cup. Manchester United In June 2004, Heinze joined Manchester United for a fee of £6.9 million.[1] He marked his debut for United in September 2004 with a goal in a 2–2 draw against Bolton Wanderers,[2] and immediately established himself as United's first choice left-back. Heinze's play was regularly lauded by United fans with the chant of "Ar-gen-tina!"[3] Heinze was injured in a UEFA Champions League match with Villarreal CF on 14 September 2005, and was out of first-team action for the rest of 2005–06. Previous to the Villarreal match, he had scored two goals in the 3–0 second-leg qualifier win over Debreceni VSC.[4] He made a comeback with the reserve team in April 2006, but a minor injury picked up in his third game back prevented him making a first-team appearance before the end of the campaign. The consequence of Heinze's injury was Manchester United's signing of Patrice Evra as his left-back replacement. Heinze's last season with Manchester United was the 2006-07 season. He scored his first goal of the season in the FA Cup fifth round replay against Reading, in a 3–2 win on 27 February 2007.[5] Due to United's injury problems, Heinze was used as a centre back, partnering Wes Brown. He was made captain for their last two games of the season, away to Chelsea,[6] and at home to West Ham United. On 21 July 2007, a bid in the region of £6.8 million from Liverpool was rejected by United.[7] Real Madrid On 22 August 2007, Heinze joined Real Madrid on a four-year deal, becoming the third United player to join Real (after David Beckham and Ruud van Nistelrooy), for a reported £8 million fee.[8] He debuted on September 2 against Villarreal, coming on as a substitute for Raúl. On 30 March 2008, he netted his first goal for Madrid in a 3-1 home win against Sevilla FC. In his first season with Real he won La Liga and the Spanish Supercup. Marseille On 30 July 2009, Heinze joined Marseille on a two-year deal for an undisclosed fee. He currently has scored for them twice in the champions league, the first against Milan and the second goal was the winning goal against Zürich.[9] International career Heinze first represented Argentina on 30 April 2003, in a friendly away win against Libya.[10] The following year, he won a gold medal in the 2004 Summer Olympics. Despite missing most of 2005-06 due to injury, Heinze was called up for the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals. In the quarter-final clash against Germany Heinze could only watch from the sidelines as Argentina lost out on penalties (he did not take a shot).[11] Heinze participated in the 2007 Copa América, and scored his only goal from a free kick in the semifinals against Mexico in a 3-0 win.[12] Argentina lost to Brazil in the final.