Walter Gargano

Youth career

Gargano started playing football aged three and joined the now defunct youth club Centella in Paysandú. In the youth club, he was in the midfield position. While in the youth, Gargano played against his future club Danubio, where he was soon discovered by the club and joined them.

Danubio

Gargano started his professional career with Danubio in 2003 and made his league debut aged 19. He won two national titles with Danubio (2004 (which was his first season winning it) and 2006–07). He made 102 appearances and scored three times and was a regular player in the first team.

Napoli

On 30 June 2007, Gargano agreed a transfer from Uruguayan club Danubio to newly promoted Napoli for a fee of £2m signing a five-year contract. He made his first appearance for the club in a 4–0 win over Cesena and made his Serie A debut on 26 August 2007 against Cagliari. On 20 October 2007, he scored his first goal in a 4–4 draw against Roma and netted the following week, in a 3–1 win over Juventus. In his first season, he made 34 appearances scoring twice. Also during his first season, Gargano received two sending offs, a second bookable offence in a 5–2 loss against Milan on 13 January 2008 and three months on, a straight red card in a 2–1 win over Parma on 20 April 2008. The following season, Gargano made his UEFA Cup debut in a 3–2 win over Benfica in the first round. However, in the second leg, Benfica would win 2–0, eliminating Napoli. On 29 September…

Gargano represented his nation at the 2007 Copa América, where they finished in fourth place. He was included in the Uruguayan squad for the 2010 World Cup, where he came on as a substitute on several occasions, as Uruguay finished fourth in the tournament. In 2011, he was part of the Copa América winning Uruguay squad, and scored in the penalty shoot-out victory against Argentina in the quarter-finals. He also took part at the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, where Uruguay finished fourth; in the bronze medal match against Italy, following a 2–2 draw after extra-time, he missed the decisive penalty in his nation's 3–2 shoot-out defeat. He later took part at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Club

As of 26 June 2022

International

Source:

Scores and results list Uruguay's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Gargano goal.

Walter is married to former Napoli teammate Marek Hamšík's sister, Michaela who is Slovak. Together, the couple have three children: Matias, born on 7 May 2010, Thiago, born on 7 April 2012, and Leo, born on 27 November 2017.