Erik Lamela has been registered as a kitman at new club in unusual loophole

Erik Lamela has been registered as a kit man for the upcoming season after Liga MX side CF Monterrey used a legal loophole that allows him to join the coaching staff on matchdays.

The 34-year-old, who played for River Plate, Roma, Spurs, Sevilla and AEK Athens during his 16-year playing career, announced his retirement from professional football in August 2005.

After a decade-long battle with hip pain that eventually had an impact on the way he trained, Lamela decided to hang up his boots before joining Matias Almeyda's coaching staff at former club Sevilla.

This season, he will once again join Almeyda but this time, the Argentine will represent Mexican outfit CF Monterrey.

His role, meanwhile, is set to differ slightly. Lamela doesn't yet have the necessary coaching qualifications to be registered under Article 17.1 of Liga MX statutes, so the club have found a workaround to make sure he can be on the bench during games.

As he trains to obtain his UEFA Pro license, Lamela has been named as a kit man/equipment manager.

Lamela has been registered as CF Monterrey's kit man. Image credit: Getty

Erik Lamela opens up about how injury impacted his career for more than a decade

Lamela endured hip pain for large parts of his career, with cartilage wear and advanced osteoarthritis forcing him to retire in his early 30's.

"My first pains started when I was 22, when I started to feel discomfort," he said last year. "At 25, I ended up having surgery because I couldn't compete due to the pain. The operation went well and I kept playing.

"But from then on, everything was different for me because it's like they replaced my hip. I've never had the same hip I had before."

Speaking in an interview with TyC Sports, Lamela admitted he had to overcome pain to get through every match. "I retired due to a physical issue that had been bothering me for a long time," he said.

"I wanted to finish my career in the best possible way, enjoying it as much as possible despite this problem, which was quite difficult. This problem was even more serious because I had suffered from cartilage wear and advanced osteoarthritis recently.

"These last few years were much more serious in the sense that my hip was increasingly affected and I could no longer train like before."

Lamela made 25 appearances for Argentina between 2011 and 2018. Image credit: Getty

He added: "That's why I had to modify the way I trained because if I trained during the week, I wouldn't play the game, because my hip couldn't maintain certain performance levels during the week."