Marcelo Estigarribia

Marcelo Estigarribia's path to Unión Santa Fe ran through eight clubs and the best part of a decade before it settled anywhere for long. He started out at Defensores de Pronunciamiento, then moved on to Villa Dálmine, a spell that set the pattern for what followed: short stays, new shirts, and a forward asked to prove himself again each time rather than one handed a settled starting place.

That pattern took him abroad early, to Honduras and Motagua, before he returned to Argentina and worked his way through Belgrano, San Martín (Tucumán), a year in Chile with Deportes La Serena, Patronato and Atlético Tucumán. None of those stops lasted more than a season or two, and the churn said as much about his career as any single performance did.

What changed the picture was January 2025, when Unión Santa Fe paid around €1.5 million to sign him from Atlético Tucumán. After a decade of shorter deals and free or low-cost moves between clubs, a fee of that size put him in different territory — a player a club judged worth paying for rather than simply picking up. He took the number 19 shirt on arrival, a right-footed forward finally landing somewhere his transfer had a price attached to it.