Erick Gabriel Gutierrez Galaviz (born 15 June 1995) is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Eredivisie club PSV Eindhoven and the Mexico national team. He began both his youth and senior career at Pachuca, managing to win the 2016 Clausura and the 2016–17 CONCACAF Champions League the following season. During the 2015–2016 season, he would be named captain for his team at the age of 20. In August 2018, PSV Eindhoven would sign him. Gutierrez has participated for various youth levels of the Mexico national football team, including the U-20 side where he won the 2015 CONCACAF U-20 Championship and the 2015 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship and the U-23 team that participated 2016 Summer Olympics. He was also part of the senior team that went to the 2018 FIFA World Cup. A left-footed box-to-box midfielder who can also play as a deep-lying playmaker and the holding role, Gutierrez started off his career as a defensive midfielder until then-Pachuca manager Diego Alonso opted to play him in a more advanced position. A versatile, intelligent, and creative player, he is good at reading the game, capable of picking out and completing key passes, possesses superb positioning, links plays together using his technical ability and vision on the ball, denies opposing advances, is capable of shooting from long-range, and is able to make dribbling runs from deep. His level of composure and maturity despite a young age has been shown in the leadership roles he assumes, captaining the Mexico U-20 team as well as his former club, Pachuca. He has been compared to national team compatriot Andres Guardado. |
