Juan Gabriel Rodríguez

Juan Gabriel Rodríguez took the long way to Córdoba. The centre-back came through River Plate's youth ranks and was part of Argentina's squad at the 2011 U-17 World Cup, though he never got onto the pitch in that tournament. His senior career began away from the country's biggest clubs, at Fénix, before spells at Almagro and San Martín de San Juan took him through the lower and middle tiers of Argentine football.

The turning point came at Defensa y Justicia, where Rodríguez arrived in 2019 and stayed on for years. It was there that he collected the two biggest lines on his résumé: the 2020 Copa Sudamericana and the 2021 Recopa Sudamericana, both won with the club. He was not on the pitch for either final, but the medals came all the same, a reminder that a title run rewards a whole squad, not just its starting eleven.

Rather than settle into a squad role, Defensa y Justicia sent him out on loan twice, first to Rosario Central in 2022, where he made 12 appearances, and then to Talleres in 2023, where he again featured 12 times. That second loan proved decisive.

At right-footed and comfortably over six foot, Rodríguez fits the profile of a defender built for duels and for organising a back line.