Javier Pastore

Javier Matías Pastore (born 20 June 1989) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Qatar Stars League club Qatar SC.

In 2007, he made his debut in the Argentine second division under the wing of manager Ricardo Gareca.

In 2007, he only managed to play five games.

During the 2008 season, Pastore was loaned to Huracán of the Argentine Primera.

He made his professional debut for Huracán on 24 May 2008 in a 1–0 loss with River Plate.

Pastore began his club career with Talleres and then Huracán in his native Argentina before moving to Serie A team Palermo in 2009 for a reported transfer fee of €4.7 million.

In the 2009 Clausura championship, he established himself as a regular first-team player for the club under the management of Ángel Cappa.

This was his breakthrough tournament, where his side narrowly missed out on the championship title.

His performance against River Plate was particularly lauded where he opened the scoring with a 25-yard shot and then scored again with a piece of individual brilliance helping Huracán win 4–0 in the club's biggest win against River Plate in over 60 years.

He ended up as the team's top scorer with seven goals and three assists.

Pastore and teammate Matías De Federico was integral to Huracán's title challenge that season.

On 11 July 2009 Palermo formally announced the signing of Pastore for five years until 30 June 2014, with the transfer fee listed at approximately €4.7 million.

Before his move to Palermo, the player was also linked to number of other top European clubs, including Manchester United, Porto, Milan and Chelsea.

Pastore's debut was on 15 August in the Coppa Italia, while his debut in Serie A came eight days later.

His breakthrough game was on 4 October against Juventus, when he assisted Edinson Cavani's goal in a 2–0 win, appearing in all the websites and national newspapers.

At international level, Pastore made his senior debut in 2010, and went on to make over 20 appearances for his country.

He represented Argentina at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and at three editions of the Copa América, reaching consecutive finals of the latter competition in 2015 and 2016.

Pastore was born in Córdoba in an Italian-Argentine family originally from Volvera, Turin.

He started his career in the youth system of the Argentine club Talleres, and slowly worked his way up to the first team.

He scored his first Serie A goal on 30 January 2010 in a 2–4 away defeat to Bari.

In his first season at Palermo, Pastore proved himself as being a promising but inexperienced youngster, playing mostly as a second-half substitute under head coaches Walter Zenga and, later, Delio Rossi.

Pastore then established himself as a regular under the tutelage of Rossi, playing usually in a role behind the regular striking duo of Fabrizio Miccoli and Edinson Cavani.

Thanks to his performances, all praised by fans and pundits, Palermo finished off the season in fifth place, thus qualifying for the UEFA Europa League.

In the 2010–11 season, on 14 November, Pastore scored his first career hat-trick in a derby match against Catania.

In 2011, French side Paris Saint-Germain bought him for a reported €39.8 million.

On 30 July 2011, Palermo club president Maurizio Zamparini revealed that a fee had been agreed over Javier Pastore's transfer to Paris Saint-Germain.

On 6 August 2011, Paris Saint-Germain formally announced the signing of Pastore, issuing him the number 27 shirt.

The transfer fee throughout was €39.8 million.

However, due to third-party ownership by his agent Marcelo Simonian, who would receive €12.5 million (not known if it included agent fee or not) Palermo announced through its website that the club received only €22.8 million of the total fee.

Palermo club president Maurizio Zamparini had started a legal action over the matter, despite the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) prohibiting any Italian club from forming any ownership agreement with third parties, which Zamparini acknowledged risked a punishment for himself.

Pastore scored his first goal in a Ligue 1 match against Brest in a 1–0 win on 11 September 2011.

During his first season at the Parc des Princes, Pastore scored 13 goals in 33 league matches.

The following year, Pastore appeared in 34 league matches as PSG won the first of four consecutive Ligue 1 titles.

He also scored his first UEFA Champions League goal in a 4–1 win over FC Dynamo Kyiv on 18 September 2012.

In 2014–15, Pastore made over 50 appearances and was named in the UNFP team of the season as PSG won an unprecedented domestic quadruple of Ligue 1, the Coupe de France, Coupe de la Ligue and the Trophée des Champions.

Ahead of the 2016–17 season, Pastore inherited the number 10 shirt from the departing Zlatan Ibrahimović, switching from the number 27 shirt.

Three days later, he came on as a substitute and scored the opening goal, before assisting Cavani again as PSG defeated Ligue 2 club Chamois Niortias 2–0 to reach the quarter-final stage of the 2016–17 Coupe de France.

As with 2015–16, he missed a large portion of the season through injuries, but returned to the PSG starting line-up for Le Classique against rivals Olympique de Marseille, where he assisted Edinson Cavani in a 5–1 Ligue 1 away win on 26 February 2017.

On 19 March 2017, Pastore assisted both of PSG's goals by crossing the ball to the scorers Adrien Rabiot and Julian Draxler in their 2–1 Ligue 1 home win over Lyon.

He won numerous domestic honours with the club, including five Ligue 1 titles, before joining Roma in 2018, for a fee of €24.7 million.