Edinson Cavani

Palermo

After his breakthrough at the 2007 South American Youth Championship, several big teams were reportedly interested in signing Cavani, including Juventus and Milan. On 29 January 2007, however, Palermo chairman Maurizio Zamparini announced the signing of the promising Uruguayan. The bid was officially confirmed on 31 January for €4.475 million. Cavani made his debut on 11 March 2007 in a home league match against Fiorentina, coming on in the 55th minute with his team 1–0 down and scoring an impressive equaliser only 15 minutes later, a goal reminiscent of Marco van Basten's strike in the 1988 UEFA European Football Championship final. In his second season with the Rosanero, Cavani found himself fighting for a first team place with Fabrizio Miccoli and Amauri. After Amauri's departure to Juventus in June 2008, Cavani cemented his place in the starting line-up, forming a striking partnership with Fabrizio Miccoli and scoring a total 14 goals in the 2008–09 season, earning the nickname "El Matador" due to his composure in front of goal. He retained his place for the 2009–10 season under new boss Walter Zenga, and also under successor Delio Rossi, being instrumental in the team's successful run in Serie A which took Palermo to European qualification and potential qualification to the UEFA Champions League with two games remaining. In April 2010, he signed a new contract with Palermo valid to June 2014.

Napoli

2010–11: Adapting to Europe

In…

Youth

In January 2007, Cavani was selected to join the Uruguay national under-20 team to play in the 2007 South American Youth Championship in Paraguay. He finished the tournament as top scorer with seven goals in nine games, helping Uruguay to finish in third place, thereby earning them a place in the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Senior

2010 World Cup, 2011 Copa América, 2012 Olympics and 2013 Confederations Cup

On 6 February 2008, Cavani debuted for the Uruguayan senior team in a 2–2 draw against Colombia, scoring from his own area on the counterattack from a corner. The same year on 22 June, in the final match of the group stage of the 2010 World Cup, Cavani set-up a goal for Luis Suárez in a 1–0 victory over Mexico. Uruguay won Group A and advanced to the knockout stage. On 10 July, he scored against Germany in the third place match to make the score 1–1; Germany went on to win 3–2. On 8 October 2010, Cavani scored his first international hat-trick in a 7–1 friendly victory against Indonesia, where Luis Suárez also scored a hat-trick. Cavani was included in the Uruguayan squad at the 2011 Copa América in Argentina. He started the first two group games, but a knee injury in the second game against Chile ruled him out until the final. In the final, he replaced Álvaro Pereira after 63 minutes, and was involved in his team's final goal as Uruguay beat Paraguay 3–0 won a record 15th title. Cavani was one of the three over-age players selected by…

Although Cavani primarily plays either as a centre forward or as a main striker, he is capable of playing in several offensive positions, and has also been deployed as a supporting striker or as a winger. Due to his composure in front of goal, he was given the nickname "El Matador" ('The Bullfighter' in Spanish) during his time in Italy. In addition to his goalscoring, Cavani is also known for his ability to create space for his teammates. Cavani's movement in the penalty area has received praise from coaches and teammates. His former Napoli manager Walter Mazzarri described him as "a strong player athletically" who is "the biggest threat in the penalty area". His PSG teammate Ángel Di María said, "His movement is great, he knows how to get away from his marker and he always pops up in the right place in the area. He always tries to anticipate what his marker will do." Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær described him as "one of the cleverest and best movers in the box", while teammate Mason Greenwood remarked: "I've never seen a striker do as many movements... he does probably the same movement about six or seven times a game." Football publications have also highlighted Cavani's intelligence away from the ball as one of his most important assets. FourFourTwo described his movement as "elite" and "a symphony" of feints, changes of direction and spatial awareness, arguing that his off-the-ball play made him "a world-class exponent of modern forward play". Writing…

Cavani was born in Salto, Uruguay on 14 February 1987 to Luis Cavani and Berta Gómez. His elder brothers, striker Walter Guglielmone and Christian Cavani, are also professional footballers. Cavani holds an Italian passport as a result of playing in Italy and his Italian heritage; Cavani's paternal grandparents were originally from Maranello. In 1929, they migrated to Argentina and later to Montevideo. Cavani is trilingual; he is fluent in Spanish, Italian and French. Cavani was married to Maria Soledad Cabris Yarrús, with whom he has two sons, born in 2011 and 2013. In 2013, Cavani announced that he and his wife were to get a divorce, following a split between the two the year before. He is a devout Evangelical Christian. As a child, Cavani idolised Argentine striker Gabriel Batistuta. Cavani also enjoys ballet dancing.