Mauro Zárate

Mauro Matías Zárate (Latin American Spanish: [ˈmawɾo maˈti.as ˈsaɾate]; born 13 March 1987) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a forward.

Zárate started his career with Vélez Sarsfield in his native country, playing three years for the team and winning the Primera División title in the 2005 Clausura tournament. He later signed for Qatari side Al-Sadd in 2007, where he played only six months before transferring on loan to Birmingham City in England. However, after Birmingham's relegation, Zárate was loaned out again, this time to Lazio in Italy, where he won the Coppa Italia. His move to Lazio was then made permanent for a fee of around €20 million, with a €60 million buy-out clause. After a loan at Inter Milan and a brief return to Vélez Sarsfield, he joined West Ham United in 2014, spending the second half of his first season on loan at Queens Park Rangers. In January 2016, Zárate joined Italian club Fiorentina. A year later, he returned to England, joining Watford on a two-and-a-half-year, £2.3 million deal.

At international level, Zárate scored the winning goal as the Argentina under-20 team won the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup final.

Club career

Vélez Sarsfield

Zárate began his club football career at Vélez Sarsfield where he had played since childhood. At age 17, considered too strong for the youth category, he was promoted to the first team with which he made his full debut on 21 April 2004 against Arsenal de Sarandí. He shared the top-scorer award for the Apertura 2006 with Rodrigo Palacio (Boca Juniors) with 12 goals each.