Ramiro Funes Mori

José Ramiro Funes Mori (Spanish pronunciation: [xoˈse raˈmiɾo ˈfunez ˈmoɾi];[lower-alpha 1] born 5 March 1991) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a defender for La Liga club Villarreal and the Argentina national team. He plays primarily as a centre back but can also operate as a left back and defensive midfielder.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Funes and the second or maternal family name is Mori.
Ramiro Funes Mori
Funes Mori with Villarreal in 2018
Personal information
Full name José Ramiro Funes Mori[1]
Date of birth (1991-03-05) 5 March 1991
Place of birth Mendoza, Argentina
Height 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)[2]
Position(s) Defender, defensive midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Villarreal
Number 6
Youth career
2008 FC Dallas
2008–2011 River Plate
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2011–2015 River Plate 76 (7)
2015–2018 Everton 55 (4)
2018– Villarreal 41 (2)
National team‡
2015– Argentina 26 (2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23 January 2021 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 11 November 2019 (UTC)

Early life

Funes Mori was born in Mendoza, Argentina. He emigrated with his family from Argentina to the United States in 2001.[3] His father, Miguel, played professional football in Argentina with clubs such as Independiente Rivadavia and Club Atlético Argentino in the 1980s.[4] In 2008, Funes Mori joined the FC Dallas youth team after his twin brother won the Sueño MLS talent competition, but spent less than a year playing for the side before moving back to Argentina.[5]

Club career

River Plate

Funes Mori joined River Plate as a youth player, progressing to the senior team in 2011.[6] He is considered a legend of the club because he won 6 professional titles (four of them international) including the 2015 Copa Libertadores. He made his debut for the Argentina national team whilst playing for River Plate. Funes Mori is remembered not only for his performances and titles, but also for scoring very important goals such as the third goal in the Copa Libertadores final and an iconic goal against Boca Juniors.[6][7] He made a total of 108 appearances for River Plate across five seasons, scoring ten goals.[8]

Everton

On 1 September 2015, Funes Mori joined Premier League club Everton for a fee of £9.5 million.[9] He made his debut 11 days later, coming on as a substitute, in a 3–1 home win against Chelsea.[10] He scored his first goal for Everton in a 3–3 draw with Bournemouth in November 2015. In his first season with the club, he received significant playing time at centre back due to injuries and lack of form for the expected starting pair of Phil Jagielka and John Stones. In April 2016, Funes Mori was sent off for a tackle on Divock Origi in a 4–0 loss to Liverpool, leading to a three-match suspension.[11][12] He scored five goals across all competitions in his first season with the club.

Funes Mori was out for the remainder of the 2016–17 season after suffering a torn meniscus while on international duty with Argentina in March 2017.[13] In the summer of 2017, Funes Mori had undergone a second operation on his knee injury in Barcelona and was looking at between six and nine months on the sidelines.[14]

Villarreal

On 21 June 2018, Funes Mori joined La Liga club Villarreal for an undisclosed fee.[15]

International career

Funes Mori made his international debut for Argentina in an international friendly against El Salvador in March 2015.[16]

He was selected for his national squad at the Copa América Centenario and was part of the Argentine side that reached the final. The defender played in the final where Chile won 4–2 on penalties after the match finished in a goalless draw. He was not selected as one of the first four penalty takers. Funes Mori scored his first international goal on 6 October 2016 in a 2–2 draw against Peru in a match which he also conceded a late penalty.[17]

In May 2018, he was named in Argentina’s preliminary 35-man squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, but did not make the final 23.[18]

Personal life

Funes Mori is married to the sister of former FC Dallas midfielder Mauro Díaz.[19] His twin brother, Rogelio, is also a footballer and plays for Liga MX club Monterrey as a striker.

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 6 January 2021[20]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
River Plate 2011–12 Primera B Nacional 19220—00212
2012–13 Argentine Primera División 10000—00100
2013–14 19120—10221
2014 17211—101284
2015 11200—161273
Total 76751—27210810
Everton 2015–16 Premier League 2844051—375
2016–17 2301020—260
2017–18 4000000040
Total 554507100675
Villarreal 2018–19 La Liga 31210–100422
2019–20 7051––121
2020–21 2020–4080
Total 4028100140623
Career total 171131727141223718

International
As of match played 20 November 2018[21]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Argentina 201550
2016131
201710
201851
Total242

International goals
As of match played 28 March 2017

Argentina score listed first, score column indicates score after each Funes Mori goal.[20]

International goals by date, venue, cap, opponent, score, result and competition
Goal Date Venue Cap Opponent Score Result Competition
1 6 October 2016Estadio Nacional, Lima, Peru16 Peru
1–0
2–2
2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
2 16 November 2018Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes, Cordoba, Argentina23 Mexico
1–0
2–0
Friendly

Honours

River Plate[20]

Notes
  1. In isolation, Funes is pronounced [ˈfunes].

References
  1. "Updated squads for 2017/18 Premier League confirmed". Premier League. 2 February 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  2. "Ramiro Funes Mori: Overview". Premier League. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  3. "Argentine's soccer move to Portugal could be a U.S. watershed". Yahoo Sports. 23 November 2010.
  4. "La historia de Gabriel Funes Mori y su papá". Diario Uno (in Spanish). 24 August 2010. Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  5. Dorrington, Nick (25 August 2015). "Ramiro Funes Mori will need time to shine for Everton in Premier League". ESPN FC. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  6. "Funes Mori: Dallas is a part of my life". FIFA. 28 April 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  7. Kalinic, Dejan (6 August 2015). "River Plate 3 – 0 Tigres UANL". Goal.com. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  8. "Aaron Lennon & Ramiro Funes Mori sign for Everton". BBC Sport. 1 September 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  9. "Blues Complete £9.5m Mori Deal". Everton F.C. 1 September 2015. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  10. Sanghera, Mandeep (12 September 2015). "Everton 3–1 Chelsea". BBC Sport. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
  11. "Ramiro Funes Mori apologises for Divock Origi red card tackle". BBC Sport. 21 April 2016. Retrieved 30 November 2018.
  12. Cannon, Rhodri (21 April 2016). "Everton defender Ramiro Funes Mori says he regrets derby tackle and didn't intend to hurt Divock Origi". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 30 November 2018.
  13. "Everton: Ramiro Funes Mori faces spell out after knee injury". BBC Sport. 30 March 2017. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
  14. "Everton's Ramiro Funes Mori suffers devastating injury setback". Liverpool Echo. 19 July 2017. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
  15. "Everton defender Ramiro Funes Mori joins Villarreal on four-year deal". Sky Sports. 21 June 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  16. "Ramiro Funes Mori". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman.
  17. https://www.skysports.com/football/news/12010/10608147/peru-2-2-argentina-lionel-messi-misses-world-cup-qualifying-draw
  18. "World Cup 2018: Messi and Aguero in Argentina squad but Icardi out". BBC Sport. 21 May 2018. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  19. Pablo Maurer (5 March 2015). "Hoping to stay fully healthy, soft-spoken FC Dallas playmaker Mauro Díaz readies for major role in 2015". Major League Soccer. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  20. "Ramiro Funes Mori". Soccerway. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  21. "Funes Mori, Ramiro". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.