Football: Footballer breaks record joining 23rd club

Abreu of Botafogo celebrates a scored goal againist Vasco during the final match between Botafogo and Vasco. Photo / Getty

Some people get sick of moving, but not Sebastian Abreu. His latest deal to join lowly Brazilian side Bangu has seen him break a world record by securing what is the 28th transfer of his long career.

Uruguayan forward Abreu, now no spring chicken at the age of 40, has remarkably played for 23 different clubs in nine countries over the course of a 22-year career.

In short, Abreu doesn't like sticking around anywhere too long with his moves over the course of the last two decades totalling more than £6.5million.

Despite his love of a transfer, Abreu can play and his peak years saw him achieve his most notable feats with his country.

At the 2010 World Cup, he netted the winning penalty against Ghana in a match which saw Luis Suarez famously sent off for handball, while he also secured 2011 Copa America glory with La Celeste.

Those successes are something to hold on to, but Abreu's club career has seen him live something of a nomadic existence.

With spells at Deportivo La Coruna, Gremio, River Plate and Real Sociedad, he has played in nine different countries - Uruguay, Argentina, Mexico, Spain, El Salvador, Brazil, Paraguay, Israel and Greece.

By anyone's reckoning that's a lot of travelling, Abreu's longest club spell seeing him spend six years with La Liga outfit Deportivo.

He headed to Spain from San Lorenzo in 1998 in a deal worth £4.25m, by far the biggest transfer of his many moves.

Abreu spent six years at Estadio Riazor, but even that didn't stop him moving about.

Sociedad loaned him out on a total of seven occasions, that was despite him scoring in a famous 3-1 win over Catalan giants Barcelona in January 1998.

Loan spells at Tecos, San Lorenzo, Nacional and America saw Abreu into the early part of the 21st century, but the goals never came on a regular enough basis at any club for him to stick around too long.

Back in Uruguay he won the title with Nacional and was also a league winner with San Lorenzo, but even that didn't stop him from a continuous sequence of transfers.

In 2008 he moved to Argentinian powerhouses River Plate from Sociedad, claiming another championship crown. That success saw him feature for Uruguay at the 2010 World Cup and 2011 Copa America, his international career coming to an end with him boasting 26 goals from his 70 appearances.

That said, his most recent move - from Salvadorian club Santa Tecla to Bangu - means he'll be best remembered for his love of travel.

At least he's probably clocked up plenty of air miles along the way...

ABREU BY NUMBERS
Age: 40
No of clubs: 23
No of transfers: 28
No of different countries: 9
Length of career: 22 years
Total value of transfer fees: £6.55m
No of games: 251
No of goals: 94
International caps: 70
International goals: 26