World Cup 2022 winner Leandro Paredes is back at boyhood club Boca Juniors, the club confirmed on Tuesday. The move will be officially completed after his medical examinations upon his return to Buenos Aires, with a full presentation to fans on Thursday. 

The celebration of the new arrival is expected to become a party for the Xeneize fans. On Wednesday, the club opened the chance for club members to book their spot at the presentation through its website, but there will be spaces left out for non-members fans, with the gates at La Bombonera set to open at 5 p.m. Entry will be free of charge.

Paredes’ move was completed for a reported 3.5 million euros, signing a contract that will keep him in the club until 2028. He’s unlikely to make his debut on Sunday when Boca visit Argentinos Juniors in the 2025 Torneo Clausura opener. However, he could feature as soon as Friday, July 18, when the Xeneize hosts Unión (Santa Fe) in the second matchday of the tournament, or on Wednesday, July 23 when the club face Atlético Tucumán in the Copa Argentina round of 32.

The 31-year-old midfielder is expected to become a central piece of head coach Miguel Angel Russo’s team. Boca has struggled for both solidity and creativity in the middle of the park, with Spain’s Ander Herrera’s poor fitness leaving a gap available. Paredes is bound to help with both aspects. In his last season with AS Roma, he completed 88.7% of passes attempted, including over seven progressive passes — moving the ball forward — per game. He was also solid on defense, averaging over two interceptions and one tackle per game.

Pareces becomes the sixth Qatar 2022 winner to come home to play in the Argentine domestic league, after Franco Armani, Gonzalo Montiel, Marcos Acuña and Germán Pezzella, all of whom are at River Plate, and Ángel Di María, who announced his return to boyhood club Rosario Central in May, and was unveiled earlier this week.

He returns to Boca after spending just over a decade away from the club, signing for AS Roma in July 2014. He debuted aged just 16 with the first team, in a 2-0 away loss to Argentinos Juniors on November 6, 2010. He’d go on to play 31 games with the Xeneize shirt, picking up the 2011 Apertura title and the 2012 Copa Argentina, and scoring five goals.

His desire to return to Boca Juniors at some point in his career has long been documented. In 2020, he admitted to ESPN that he regularly talked to then-Boca vice president Juan Román Riquelme. 

“My plan is to play at La Bombonera again, with that shirt and all those people,” Paredes said at the time.

He once again discussed the matter in 2024, when he said Riquelme told him he wanted him to play for Boca at some point during his presidency. “I said I would,” said Paredes. “He knows I want to return to the club.”