Erik Manuel Lamela Cordero (born 4 March 1992) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or a right winger for Super League Greece club AEK Athens.

[7] In 2004, a Trans World Sport film crew travelled to Argentina to interview a 12-year-old Lamela who was already making headlines after scoring 120 goals for River Plate's youth side the previous season.

In the video, Lamela declares his wish to follow in the footsteps of Diego Maradona and win a World Cup for Argentina.

The midfielder was a regular starter for River during the 2010–11 Argentine Primera División season, playing 34 games and scoring four goals.

[16] Lamela went on to score 15 times in 33 games, putting him joint-fifth in Serie A and second to striker Pablo Osvaldo (16 goals) at Roma.

[19][20] The fee for Lamela made him the most expensive player in the club's history, breaking the two previous records that had been set earlier in the transfer window, first for Paulinho and then Roberto Soldado.

[21] On 1 September, Lamela made his debut for Tottenham as a 75th-minute substitute in a 1–0 North London derby loss to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.

He was named in the starting line-up for the opening match of the 2014–15 Premier League season against West Ham United, making his first appearance of 2014.

[30][31] Lamela scored his first goals of the season on 23 October, a brace in a 5–1 victory over Greek club Asteras Tripoli in the Europa League.

[35] On 1 March 2015, Lamela played in the League Cup final, coming off of the bench in the 71st minute as Tottenham lost 2–0 to Chelsea.

[44][45] After more than a year out due to the hip injury that required two operations,[46] Lamela appeared in the Premier League away game against Leicester on 28 November 2017 as a substitute.

[48] He scored his first goal of the season in the 2–0 win against Newport County in the fourth round replay of the FA Cup on 7 February 2018.

[54] He made his first league start of the season in the away match against West Ham United, scoring the only goal that secured a 1–0 win.

[57] In January 2021, he was fined after breaking the COVID-19 regulations by attending a Christmas party, and was left off the team in a number of games.

[65] In May 2023, he scored a goal in extra time in the Europa League semi-final against Juventus to win 3–2 on aggregate, which sent Sevilla to the final.

[70] On 3 September 2014, Lamela scored his first goal for the senior national team, putting Argentina 2–0 ahead against Germany, in an eventual 4–2 win in a rematch of the World Cup final.

[71] In May 2015, Lamela was selected by coach Gerardo Martino in Argentina's squad for the 2015 Copa América held in Chile.

He appeared in all of Argentina's group stage matches, and scored a goal in the 3–0 win against Bolivia with a long-range free kick.