daniel osvaldo · Biography

On 25 August 2011 Roma completed the signing of Pablo Daniel Osvaldo from Espanyol. He had just scored 13 goals in the Spanish top flight, and the move took him to the front rank of European football. Soon afterwards it also opened the door to the Italy national team. Osvaldo was born on 12 January 1986 in Lanús, in Buenos Aires province. A centre-forward with Argentine and Italian citizenship, he obtained his Italian passport in 2007.

Youth football in Argentina and the move to Italy

He played youth football at Lanús from 1995 to 1999 and at Banfield from 1999 to 2000. In 2000 he joined the Huracán academy, where he finished his development. He made his senior debut for the Parque Patricios club in 2005 and scored 11 goals in 33 league games there. In 2006 he left for Italy and joined Atalanta, who won the 2005-06 Serie B title, although he played only three matches. He stayed in the second tier with Lecce, who held him under a co-ownership arrangement, and scored 8 goals in 31 games in 2006-07.

Fiorentina, Bologna and Espanyol

Fiorentina bought him from Atalanta in 2007 for around €4.6 million. In his first Serie A season he scored on the final day of the 2007-08 campaign, and the goal secured the Viola a Champions League place. In January 2009 he joined Bologna on loan, and the club later made the deal permanent, but he scored only three league goals there. In January 2010 he moved to Spain on loan to Espanyol. The club extended the loan in June and signed him permanently on 31 August 2010. In Barcelona he found the regular football he had lacked until then. He scored 7 goals in his first half-season and 13 in the 2010-11 league campaign.

Roma and the Italy national team

Roma was his most productive spell in front of goal, with 27 goals in 55 league games between 2011 and 2013. In 2013 he played in the Coppa Italia final, which the Giallorossi lost to Lazio. He had already represented Italy at youth level, and in 2008 he scored the only goal of the Toulon Tournament final against Chile for the Under-21s. He made his senior debut on 11 October 2011 in a 3-0 win over Northern Ireland. His first goals came on 7 September 2012, when he scored twice in four minutes in a 2-2 draw with Bulgaria in Sofia. He went on to score against Armenia in October 2012 and Denmark in October 2013. His senior international career ended with 14 caps and 4 goals between 2011 and 2014.

Southampton and a run of loans

On 18 August 2013 he joined Southampton in a deal worth around €15 million. He scored three goals in 13 Premier League matches and moved to Juventus on loan in January 2014. In Turin he won the 2013-14 Serie A. On 11 May 2014 he scored the only goal of a win over Roma at the Stadio Olimpico, and he also scored twice against Trabzonspor in the Europa League round of 32. In August 2014 he joined Inter Milan on loan and scored five league goals. In January 2015 he clashed with Mauro Icardi during a match, and Roberto Mancini stopped selecting him.

Boca Juniors, Porto and retirement

In February 2015 he returned to Argentina on loan to Boca Juniors and made his debut on 26 February in the Copa Libertadores. That year the club won the 2015 Argentine Primera División and the 2014-15 Copa Argentina. Southampton terminated his contract on 1 July 2015, and in August he joined Porto as a free agent. He scored his only goal for the club on 4 October 2015 against Belenenses. In January 2016 he went back to Boca, but his second spell ended after a 1-1 Libertadores draw with Nacional in Montevideo on 12 May 2016. Coach Guillermo Barros Schelotto caught him smoking in the dressing room and removed him from the squad, and the club terminated his contract. In August 2016 he announced that he was quitting football to concentrate on music with his rock band, Barrio Viejo. On 6 January 2020 he came out of retirement with Banfield, a club he had played for as a boy. He played two matches before the pandemic halted competition and left the club in July 2020. Over his career he made 271 league appearances and scored 88 league goals.