Juan Fernando Quintero Paniagua is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Argentine club River Plate, on loan from Portuguese FC Porto. He has been mentioned among the more coveted young players in European football by The Times of London. At the age of 19, Quintero already started to receive praise for his impressive performances during his time in Italy. During his time of the 2013 South American Youth Championship, he has been recognized as not only one of the most promising youth aspects from only South America, but the world. Quintero has represented Colombia since he was 19, making his official debut in 2012 against Cameroon. At the 2013 South American Youth Championships, he led Colombia to their 3rd title while voted as the tournament's MVP for contributing more than any other player for his respective nation. He also took part in the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey where he gained more praise for his talents after creating a huge impact in the tournament. Quintero went on to represent Colombia in the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, where he scored his first world cup goal against Côte d'Ivoire in a group stage match on June 19, 2014. His overall size and style of play as well as his left-foot has led him to be compared to Lionel Messi. Style of play
Quintero is well known for his creativity for playmaking and as a supportive player in general. His ball control and dribbling has stood him out from most players his age as well as his free kicks, which he has shown to be profound in. Left footed, Quintero is sometimes considered to be another 'James Rodríguez' due to their similar traits (as well as being only 2 years younger, while also playing for the youth national squads of Colombia after Rodriguez's time), although Rodriguez plays more of a forward midfielder/winger whereas Quintero plays more in a neutral mid-center position. This means that he fully commits to a playmaker role, although he does contain remarkable dribbling ability and carries high accuracy with shots on goal. Due to his size, Quintero naturally has a lower center of gravity allowing him to have higher balance, agility, and speed similar to that of Lionel Messi. Despite many other young talents drawing comparisons to Messi as well, Quintero is highlighted to be a very 'close replica' to the point where he also been referenced to a 'Diego Maradona' as well. Although all these are natural comparisons due to the fact that he can also effectively run with the ball in limited spaces, and maintain a very sharp technical mindset to that of the Argentinean legends themselves. However, despite the comparisons, Quintero does not carry the strength of Maradona nor is he balanced with his weak foot like Messi. Although, Quintero states that his main inspiration was from watching Brazilian legend Rivaldo as a child. |
