Mauro Icardi

Mauro Emanuel Icardi Rivero (born 19 February 1993) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a striker for Süper Lig club Galatasaray.

In 2007, he was disputed over by Barcelona and Real Madrid, after offers from Valencia, Sevilla, Espanyol, Deportivo La Coruña, Arsenal and Liverpool.

Icardi joined the Catalan club at the start of 2008–09 season and was included on the U-17 team.

He was promoted to the U-19 team the following season before joining Sampdoria on loan in January 2011.

Icardi later stated that leaving Barcelona was not a bad decision, convinced that his decision to move on was the right one.

On 11 January 2011, Sampdoria confirmed Icardi had signed with the club on loan until the end of the season.

After a successful six-month loan for la Samp, scoring 13 goals in 19 games with the Primavera team, the Italian side utilised the option to buy Icardi for €400,000 in July 2011, signing a three-year deal.

In 2011–12 season, he scored 19 goals in the reserve league Group A, as the joint-third topscorer of the league along with Gonzalo Barreto of Group C.

Icardi began his footballing career at the youth teams of Vecindario and passed through La Masia, the youth system of La Liga club Barcelona, before moving to Serie A club Sampdoria to begin his professional career in 2012.

On 12 May 2012, he made his first-team debut, against Juve Stabia, after coming off the bench to replace Bruno Fornaroli in the 75th minute of the match.

Ten minutes later, Icardi scored his first professional goal to win the match 2–1 for Sampdoria.

On 26 September 2012, he made his Serie A debut for Sampdoria against Roma, substituting the Paraguayan midfielder Marcelo Estigarribia in the 49th minute.

On 12 November, Icardi scored his first goal in Serie A in the Derby della Lanterna against Genoa in an eventual 3–1 win.

On 18 May, during the final match of 2012–13 season, Icardi scored again against Juventus, helping the team to beat the eventual champions of Italy 3–2 at Stadio Luigi Ferraris.

After an impressive season, he joined Inter Milan in July 2013, where he developed into one of the most prolific strikers in Europe.

Icardi made his senior debut for Argentina in October 2013.

Barcelona won the race for Icardi, and signed with him until 2013.

On 6 January 2013, he scored two goals against Juventus in Sampdoria's 2–1 upset at Juventus Stadium.

It was Juventus's second ever loss in the Juventus Stadium since the construction.

On 27 January 2013, he scored four goals in a six-goal thrashing of fellow strugglers Pescara, lifting the Genoese side clear of the Serie A relegation zone.

In late April, it was announced that Icardi would join Inter Milan before the beginning of the 2013–14 season.

The deal was also later confirmed by Sampdoria board.

The transfer fee was €6.5 million for 50% registration rights.

Icardi was officially unveiled as an Inter player on 16 July along with Algerian striker Ishak Belfodil, where he was allocated squad number 9.

He said that moving to Inter is a "dream come true", adding that he "had a lot of offers, but wanted only Inter".

He made his unofficial debut one day later during the 3–0 away win against Trentino Select XI by playing in the first half of the 3–0 away win.

He scored his first goal for Inter in their 1–1 pre-season friendly draw with Bundesliga club Hamburger SV, netting after less than two minutes on the field and being assisted by Fredy Guarín.

On 25 August 2013, Icardi made his Inter official debut, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 2–0 home success over Genoa, hitting the crossbar late in the game; he scored his first league goal for the Nerazzurri on 14 September, netting the first of a 1–1 home draw against Juventus, after coming on as a substitute in the 73rd minute.

Due to injury, Icardi missed most of the games of the first part of the season, only returning to first-team matches in February.

Icardi won the Capocannoniere in both the 2014–15 and 2017–18 seasons, and was named the captain of Inter in 2015, at age 22.

Three years later, Icardi was integral for Inter reaching a place in the UEFA Champions League, their first time in six years, as he became the club's eighth-highest goalscorer of all time.

On 14 February 2014, during the away match against Fiorentina at Stadio Artemio Franchi, Icardi returned in the field after four months and scored the winner after only ten minutes.

Later, on 5 April, Icardi scored a brace during the 2–2 home draw against Bologna.

That was his first brace of his Inter career.

He played sparingly until 2018, earning eight caps and scoring once.

Icardi was born in Rosario, Argentina and moved to Canary Islands when he was nine.

He began his football career with Vecindario in Gran Canaria, and scored over 50 goals in their youth categories.

In 2019, Icardi signed for Paris Saint-Germain on an initial one-year loan deal, where he won a domestic treble.

He then joined the club permanently for €50 million.

After a successful season on loan to Galatasaray where he led the side to a Süper Lig title, Icardi joined permanently in 2023 for a €10 million fee.