Mauro Boselli

Mauro Boselli (born 22 May 1985) is a former Argentine professional footballer who played as striker.

In 2002, Boselli went to Spain with Boca Juniors for a youth tournament and played the final before a game disputed between Bilbao and Roma, when Roma's coach Fabio Capello asked Boselli if he was Italian and if he held a community passport.

At Boca Juniors, Boselli played in 30 reserve games before jumping to the first squad.

In 2003, Boselli featured in the Boca Juniors under-20 side with Brazilian midfielder Eduardo Martins Nunes.

Boselli debuted in the first-team's pre-season when he was 16.

Boselli made his debut for Boca Juniors in a 7–2 defeat to Rosario Central on 6 July 2003, for the last fixture of the 2003 Clausura.

In this task, however, many youth team players made their presentation seeings as the starting squad were celebrating winning the 2003 Copa Libertadores days earlier.

Boselli also obtained the Copa Sudamericana with Boca Juniors in 2004.

In the club's 2004 under-20 side, Boselli shared the squad with teammates as Fernando Gago, Andrés Franzoia and Eduardo Casais.

In 2004, Boselli formed a Boca Juniors winning team with Carlos Tevez, Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Pablo Ledesma, Diego Cagna, Sebastián Battaglia, Jonathan Fabbro, Rolando Schiavi, Roberto Abbondanzieri, youth graduate Neri Cardozo and Colombian Fabián Vargas.

In 2005, Boselli noted 2 goals in 11 appearances for the first-team.

He did, though, share the team with Belgian player Mikael Yourassowsky.

He subsequently spent the 2005–06 season on loan at Málaga B in the Spanish Segunda División, scoring 5 goals in 32 games.

At Málaga, Boselli was one of three South American players in the team, including Peruvian Juan González-Vigil and Brazilian Tiago Marchiori.

After returning to Boca Juniors, Boselli struggled to become a regular in the first team, being behind Martín Palermo and Argentina 2006 FIFA World Cup player Rodrigo Palacio in the coaches' consideration.

Boselli is a two-time Copa Libertadores winner, being champion with Boca Juniors in 2007 and with Estudiantes de La Plata in 2009.

Boselli was runners-up with Boca Juniors in the 2007 FIFA Club World Cup.

Boselli began playing small sided football at Sportivo Pereyra de Barracas and then to the youth system of All Boys.

At the age of 11, Boselli entered the Boca Juniors youth teams.

On 12 December 2007, Boselli came on as a substitute in the 90th minute for Rodrigo Palacio in Boca Juniors' 1-0 semi-final victory against Tunisian club Étoile Sportive du Sahel in the 2007 FIFA Club World Cup.

Whilst at Boca, the club rejected many loan offers and permanent signing deals, including from Lazio and Catania, always saying that Boselli was not for sale.

Six months before departing Boca Juniors, Boselli signed a 4-year contract with the club.

Boselli's final game for Boca Juniors was a 6–2 victory against Tigre in the 2008 Torneo Clausura.

Boselli departed the club at the middle of 2008, disputing a total of 59 official games and starting in 21 of them.

In July 2008, Estudiantes de La Plata bought 50% of Boselli's transfer rights from Boca, allowing the forward to move to the La Plata outfit.

In Estudiantes, Boselli started strongly with 8 goals in 15 league games during his first tournament, the 2008 Apertura.

In total, Mauro Boselli scored 49 goals at Estudiantes de La Plata since June 2008.

He hit 32 goals in the Argentine Primera División and a further 17 goals in international cups: 12 in the Copa Libertadores, four in the Copa Sudamericana and one in the FIFA Club World Cup.

Boselli revealed that Estudiantes coach Alejandro Sabella prepared the squad for six months before playing against 2008/09 UEFA Champions League winners Barcelona, including 15 to 30 minute training sessions on the Tuesdays and Thursdays focusing on how Estudiantes was going to play against Barcelona.

Boselli was the leading goal scorer of the 2009 Copa Libertadores.

In 2009, he won the Copa Libertadores with Estudiantes.

During the competition, Boselli scored 8 goals, finishing as the overall top scorer of the tournament.

He also helped the team by scoring the winning goal in the tournament's final against Cruzeiro, in Belo Horizonte.

Boselli began his career at Argentine First Division clubs Boca Juniors and Estudiantes before moving to England in 2010 to join Wigan Athletic.

He has also made four appearances for the Argentina national football team.

His style of play has been described by Roberto Martínez as "a clever player and natural finisher ... who can create havoc in the penalty area."

On 29 June 2010, Boselli signed a four-year deal with Wigan Athletic for an undisclosed fee.

He made his debut in the opening game of the Premier League season against Blackpool, and scored his first competitive goal for the club against Swansea City in the League Cup on 26 October 2010.

However, following his first goal for the club, Boselli found settling into the English Premier League difficult.

In March 2012, Wigan fans voted Boselli as the club's worst ever foreigner.