HERNAN CRESPO PROFILE
Argentina striker Hernan Crespo will again shoulder much of the goalscoring burden for Jose Pekerman's World Cup hopefuls.
The Chelsea frontman, renowned for his aerial ability and predatory instinct in front of goal, has cost clubs combined transfer fees of £68 million.
"You just know that when he plays he will score goals and I cannot speak highly enough of him."
Blues team-mate Joe Cole
Once referred to as 'Valdanito' due to a likeness with 1986 World Cup winner Jorge Valdano, Crespo made his club debut for River Plate in 1993 before winning his first cap for Argentina in a friendly against Bulgaria in February 1995.
A £16 million transfer to Parma marked Crespo's coming of age on the European stage and in 1999 he helped the club lift both the Coppa Italia and the Uefa Cup.
After four seasons in Sardinia, Lazio paid a then world record transfer fee of £35.5 million and the striker ended his first campaign in the Italian capital as Serie A's top goalscorer with 21 strikes.
A season-long stint at Internazionale followed before Crespo found a home in The Premiership, joining Chelsea in the summer of 2003.
A slightly disappointing campaign in London, where he scored 12 goals in 31 appearances, saw incoming manager Jose Mourinho loan him out to Milan for season 2004/05.
The Portuguese recalled an initially reluctant Crespo to add competition for places in the summer of 2005 and the hitman scored a late winner at Wigan in the club's first match of what proved to be a successful title defence.
Having represented his country in the last two World Cups and amassing over 50 caps with a one-in-two strike rate he remains vitally important to Los Albicelestes' challenge.
