Pablo Aimar
Aimar began his ascent to stardom with River Plate, whose first team he joined for the 1997/8 season after rejecting a place at medical school, and with whom he quickly established himself as one of the best young players in Argentina.
Valencia signed Aimar in 2001, at a price of 24 million Euros. The purchase proved justified, however, as Aimar helped lead the team to a first-place finish in the 2001/2 Spanish season, as well as to a 2001 UEFA Champions League final, in which they were defeated by Bayern Munich. Aimar also has won the UEFA Cup with Valencia, defeating Olympique Marseille in 2004. Aimar has been injured a lot recently and therefore in and out of the team.
Aimar played for Argentina in the 2002 and 2006 World Cups. He is nicknamed "El Payaso", the Clown. Other nicknames include "El Cai", "El Pibe" and "El Mago". Diego Maradona later said that Aimar was "his legitimate successor as the world's best player" and that he would pay to watch Aimar play (although it is worth noting that Maradona has said that about all players touted as his successor, including Andres D'Alessandro- also in Real Zaragoza- and Lionel Messi).
On 12 April 2006, he was hospitalized after being diagnosed with acute viral meningitis, but made a quick recovery and has returned to play for his team.
On 12 June 2006, it was reported in the British media that Aimar's former coach Rafael Benitez is interested in signing him for Liverpool F.C.. But on July 29 2006, he joined Real Zaragoza in 4 years-deal for €11 million[1], and will receive €1.5 million per year. La Liga and Europe are his objective, again.
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