Nicolás Medina

Argentinos Juniors

Born in Buenos Aires, Medina started his career as a heralded player at the youth level for Argentinos Juniors which also saw him capped at the national team youth level. He made his senior team debut on 3 September 1999 against Boca Juniors. He finished the 1999 Apertura with 11 games. He played 16 games in the 2000 Clausura. In the 2000 Apertura, he played 8 games and he played 13 games and scored his first goal in the 2001 Clausura on 11 February 2001 at home in a 2–2 tie against Boca Juniors.

Sunderland

In 2001, Medina signed for English Premier League team Sunderland A.F.C. for £3.5 million, joining up with Argentine youth team colleague Julio Arca. At his signing, manager Peter Reid hailed him as "a complete midfield player". While Arca had become an instant hit at the Stadium of Light, Medina failed to make it into the first team and spent most of his time at Sunderland in the reserve team. Both fans and the media began to speculate as to why such an expensive signing was not given a chance. This led to popular theories that he was suffering a serious illness or that he had fallen out with Reid. Neither rumour was proven. Medina briefly courted controversy early in his Sunderland career, after being quoted in an Argentine newspaper as saying that he was planning to live in Newcastle (home to Newcastle United, Sunderland's fiercest rivals) rather than in the City of Sunderland. When new Sunderland manager Howard Wilkinson took over…

Medina was part of the Argentine U17 team in the South American qualifiers hosted by Uruguay for the 1999 FIFA U17 World Cup; however, Argentina finished in 4th place and did not qualify. His performances saw him called up to train in Amsterdam with the full national team for a friendly in March 1999 against Netherlands. He started all 7 games for the U20 team in the 2001 FIFA U20 World Cup in Argentina, including going 90 minutes in the final against Ghana. (in addition to 1st-round games against Finland, Egypt and Jamaica – round of 16 game against China, quarter-final against France and semi-final game against Paraguay). As part of that U20 World Championship team, Medina's performance was cited by FIFA in the tournament's Technical Report as follows – "Central midfielder Medina was a key player in the Argentine squad. He regularly won back possession and created balance when the team attacked. He moved around the pitch smoothly, and when he got the ball, automatically increased the pace of the game. He delivered one-two passes with great ease and precision" . Unlike many of his teammates, he would not be able to replicate that success at the national team level. Medina was a starting member for Argentina in the 2004 South America Olympic qualification tournament held in Chile, where he played 5 games (1st-round games against Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia as well as Final Stage games against Paraguay and Brazil). Medina was then part of the gold medal winning Argentine…

Medina has been deployed mostly as a central midfielder but has shown "adaptability to function in almost all positions in midfield" and has played as a defender at times in his career.

Medina also holds Italian nationality.