Matías Gabriel Vera (born 20 November 1995) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Argentinos Juniors on loan from Major League Soccer club Houston Dynamo.
Career Nueva Chicago Vera started his career with Nueva Chicago and came through their youth ranks, serving as a captain for his teams. He originally played as a right winger and right back before his coaches moved him to defensive midfield due to his ball winning ability and natural instincts. Vera was promoted to the first team during the 2015 Argentine Primera División season. He made his debut on 6 April in a 2–1 defeat to Banfield and went on to make 17 appearances across all competitions in his first season. Nueva Chicago were relegated to Primera B Nacional in 2015, where they remained for the next three seasons as Vera featured sixty-eight times for them in all competitions while also scoring twice, netting in games with All Boys and Atlético Paraná.
O'Higgins In January 2018, Vera joined Argentine Primera División side San Lorenzo. However, he was immediately loaned to O'Higgins of the Chilean Primera División.
His first appearance for O'Higgins was against Huachipato on 18 February 2018 in matchweek 1 of the Primera División season. He would start the first 8 games of the season before he missed matchweek 9 after getting two yellow cards in the previous match. He returned to the starting lineup for matchweek 10 Vera scored his first goal for O'Higgins on 25 August in a 1–1 draw with his first Unión Española. Vera was suspended for their matchweek 29 game due to yellow card accumulation. He returned to the lineup in matchweek 30, the final week of the season, and scored in a 4–0 win over Audax Italiano. Vera started 30 out of a possible 32 games for O'Higgins, only missing out on 2 due to suspension. O'Higgins finished the season eighth in the table, missing out on qualification to 2019 Copa Sudamericana first stage to Unión Española on goal difference.
Houston Dynamo On 21 December 2018, Vera signed with the Houston Dynamo of Major League Soccer. The reported transfer fee was around $1 million. Vera made his Dynamo debut on 19 February, playing all 90 minutes in a 1–0 win over CD Guastatoya in the CONCACAF Champions League. He played every minute of the tournament as Houston reached the quarter-finals, where they were eliminated by Tigres UANL. Vera made his MLS debut on 2 March in a 1–1 draw with Real Salt Lake, but he was sent off after picking up two yellow cards. He scored for the Dynamo for the first time on 11 June, netting in a 3–2 win over Austin Bold in the U.S. Open Cup. Although Houston missed out on the playoffs, Vera enjoyed a strong debut season, leading the team in minutes played with 2,639 in the league and 3,088 in all competitions. He was voted as the team MVP and Newcomer of the Year by local journalists and the Dynamo staff.
