Juventus midfielder Leandro Paredes has paid tribute to his former club Boca Juniors by getting his chest spectacularly inked
In pictures circulating Twitter, Paredes’ chest is seen being covered with images of la Bombonera and the beaches of Buenos Aires, places that naturally hold sentimental value for the 28-year-old.
Paredes is currently on loan with the struggling Bianconeri after failing to get regular game time at his parent club Paris Saint-Germain.
Before that, he spent his time at AS Roma and has a smattering of loan moves throughout his career in Europe.
Safe to say, the defensive midfielder has found it hard to cement his position in an elite side as he would have dreamed of during his time in Argentina.
Paredes spent his formative years in football with Boca Juniors, starting out at the age of 8 until getting the first-team call-up in 2010 before spending 5 years contracted to his boyhood club.
It was during the latter stages of this period that he started to attract the attention of clubs from Serie A.
After being loaned out to Chievo, Roma and Empoli, he got his permanent move to Roma where he spent a year before joining Zenit St. Petersburg in Russia.
Talented as he is, Paredes has had to choose between fulfilling the role of a squad player in a top side or accepting offers from teams outside of Champions League contention.
There’s always the age-old counter-argument of the obscene amounts of money that players make even if they ply their trade in smaller clubs.
However, that doesn’t distract much from the fact that their lives along with those of their close ones often get turned upside down by simple football decisions, like transfers.
If that is the case, one shouldn’t be too surprised to find Paredes getting fond times of his youth in his homeland etched in memorial given his topsy-turvy journey through Europe.
But social media being what it is, reactions ranging from approval to those taking exception to him flooded in within hours.
Regardless of whatever the reason behind Paredes’ tattoo might be, it is certainly one that provokes thought and curiosity just in considering what it might mean for the player.