Long before the scandals and controversies in which he was immersed, Mauro Icardi He stood as one of the best strikers of his generation: the current player for Galatasaray from Turkey, who trained at Barcelona at a young age and moved on to Italian football, began his amateur journey at Sarratea Children’s Clubwhere he came to convert more than 100 goals per year.
Born February 19, 1993 In the same Rosario where a certain Lionel Messi had come into the world six years earlier, the attacker was one of the great promises of Argentine soccer.
And while his career is brighter than many of his colleagues, he also has the feeling that the personal scandals in which he was involved since he got together with Wanda Nara undermined his chances of transcending even more and comply with what he suggested as a boy.
“Cañito” Icardi broke all records
The striker from Rosario noticed that the ball motorized his vocation and his father enrolled him in the humble Sarratea club when he was just 5 years old.
In that same place, cracks of the stature of Julio Zamorawho came out champion of America with the National Team in 1993 and who changed shirts with Maradona the day he scored his last goal; and Pampa Bihurriet, with a past in Newell’s and Central Córdoba.
Icardi’s nickname was marked as “Cañito” because of his thin legs. Photo: TN file.
Those who saw little Icardi play remember that he had a great facility for scoring: the area became a dangerous area for all defenders and, despite his young age, he celebrated in droves.
At the end of his first year with category 93, on a 5-field pitch, the gunner made 51 victories. In addition, he was left with an endearing nickname: his classmates began to affectionately call him, Cañito.
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Carlos Ismael, uncle of the attacker that he would have auspicious steps through Inter Milan and Paris Saint-Germain in the futurespecified in an interview with the newspaper La Capital that the alias was due to the physical characteristics of the child: “He already played very well, he loved hunting birds and fishing, but he had a ball on his head. Since it had thin and long legs, it stayed like this”.
Curiously, thanks to his qualities, Icardi also had the opportunity to play with older boys and He came to play with the ’92 category, although there he had the role of goalkeeper. In the three clubs he also showed quality, since he managed to consecrate himself by having the least defeated fence in one of the championships. However, that role did not fully convince him.
As in his time at Inter, Icardi did not stop breaking nets. Photo: TN file.
His numbers were brighter as he grew up and the rivals appeared beaten on the pitch every time they had to play against Infantil Sarratea: already in his second season, he put his stamp on 108 goals, an extraordinary number. to the next tournament he would lower his mark a little and sign 99showing a quality that few could show off.
His fruitful passage through Europe
Several years before his great leap, which occurred in 2008, when he ended up in the ranks of the culé team, the striker’s talent caught the attention of the Neighborhood Sports Union, cast from the Canary Islands. Mauro traveled with a large part of his family to Spain and had no problem standing out: Throughout his stay, 500 of his shots went over the net and several powerful clubs inquired about his services..
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“I spent nine months in conversations in hotels and coffee shops in different cities, speaking with sports directors, scouts and coaches. There are all the courts, at first I didn’t realize it and then I began to discover them by touch. At Barcelona they sent us pennants signed by Messi and at Atlético de Madrid they did the same with Agüero”, recounted the father of crack.
The artilleryman spent time in La Masía. Photo: TN file.
Now as a professional, Icardi, who is turning 30, got tired of scoring goals: He went through four teams, played more than 350 games and already has 182 conquests, with an average of 0.5 per game. When soccer was still just a game, the man from Rosario showed an entire city that a different person was emerging.