Nicolás Rubén Medina (born 17 February 1982) is an Argentine former professional footballer who primarily played as a central midfielder. He accomplished more in his international career, especially in his early years as a world champion at the 2001 FIFA U20 Youth Championship as well as a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics, than he has in his club career. His journeyman club career was chronicled by Futbol Futbol Futbol, the South American football website. Club career 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 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 at Sunderland, he did what Peter Reid had failed to do and publicly explain why Medina was not being picked for Sunderland, despite playing for the Argentina national football team. In an interview he stated that: "The evidence suggests that Nicolas hasn't got it because the previous manager didn't pick him." Medina eventually left Sunderland having only played once for the first team; in an FA Cup