A VIDAL PROFILE

BIOGRAPHY

Arturo Erasmo Vidal Pardo born 22 May 1987 is a Chilean footballer who plays for the German side Bayer Leverkusen and the Chilean national team as Defensive midfielder.

Vidal was born in San Joaquín, a working class commune in the capital Santiago. He joined the youth squads of Primera División giants Colo-Colo.

Vidal's professional debut came in the first leg of the 2006 Apertura Tournament final. The match was between Colo-Colo and arch rivals Universidad de Chile. Vidal was called into action with less than ten minutes left in the match for Gonzalo Fierro. Colo-Colo would go on to win the game 2-1 and win the championship as well. In the following season (2006 Clausura Tournament) Vidal would become a more intricate piece of the squad and would lead Colo-Colo to their second championship win in a row. He has appeared in over thirty league matches for Colo-Colo. Vidal scored goals in all types of matches. He always had a strong relation with the net during the local league as well as the international scene where Vidal scored three goals in Colo-Colo's Copa Sudamericana 2006 campaign. During this campaign Vidal caught the eye of visiting scouts.

The 2007 Apertura Tournament was Vidal's last with Colo-Colo, after being transferred to German club Bayer Leverkusen. Bayer had tracked his progress for some time and his good showing at the U-20 World Cup that year convinced Bayer' Director of Football Rudi Völler to make the trip all the way to Chile in order to convince the twenty-year-old to sign. The two clubs then agreed on a fee of $11 million with Bayer Leverkusen paying $7.7 million for seventy percent ownership of his contract. His transfer broke the previous record of Mati Fernandez's $9 million transfer to Villarreal CF.

Vidal missed the first game of the season through injury but was soon thrust into the starting line-up and made his debut on 19 August 2007 in the away loss at Hamburg. He started in half the season's games and scored his first goal for the club just three games into his Bayer career. He was ever present for the 2008–09 season and played a vital role in Bayer's run to the German Cup final. On 8 March, he suffered a concussion during the game against VfL Bochum and was out for a month. Upon his return, he scored a goal to break the deadlock in the 4-1 semifinal win over Mainz but Bayer eventually lost to Werder Bremen in the final.

In the season 2010–11 he was used as a more offensive central midfielder and since then had performed well, scoring ten goals and thus being the best scorer for Leverkusen, which ended up as vice-champions.

Vidal represented the Chilean national football team at the Under-20 level at the 2007 South American Youth Championship in Paraguay where he was the tournament's second top scorer with six goals. During the tournament he played central midfield and helped the team to qualify for the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup where Chile finished in third place with Vidal scoring two goals in the tournament, including the match winner against Portugal in the Round of 16. Vidal made his senior debut in a friendly against Venezuela where Chile won 1–0. He has since been a regular under Marcelo Bielsa when fit during 2010 World Cup qualifying, playing in 11 matches and scoring a goal. He was then named in the final 23-man squad for the tournament.



Player Details

Full name: Arturo Erasmo Vidal Pardo
Date of birth: 22 May 1987
Place of birth: Santiago, Chile
Height: 1.81 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
Playing position: Midfielder

Club information
Current club: Bayer Leverkusen
Number: 23

Youth career:
Melipilla
Colo-Colo

Senior career
2005–2007 Colo-Colo 56 (5)
2007– Bayer Leverkusen 117 (15)
National team
2007– Chile 32 (3)