Franco Vázquez

Belgrano

Nicknamed "El Mudo" ("The Mute") due to his introversion in his youth, Vázquez began his career at Argentine club Belgrano, with whom he debuted in 2007 and then became a mainstay at the club, achieving interest from a number of Italian clubs (the first being Parma in 2010) as a consequence.

Palermo

In August 2011, Vázquez was heavily linked with a move to Italian side Palermo as a replacement for fellow Argentine Javier Pastore. The move, effective from January 2012, was confirmed on 1 September 2011 for a €4.53 million transfer fee. He officially joined the Palermo squad on 29 December 2011, then debuted on 8 January in a match against Napoli. He made a total 14 appearances (mostly as a substitute) and scored no goals.

Loan to Rayo Vallecano

On 24 August 2012, Vázquez moved on loan to La Liga club Rayo Vallecano. He mostly played as a substitute and failed to make a breakthrough in the first team squad, not being signed permanently by the club at the end of the season and therefore returning to Palermo.

Return to Palermo

Vázquez was originally kept out of the squad list by head coach Gennaro Gattuso and therefore ineligible to play in any matches for the first half of the 2013–14 Serie B season. However, he was reincluded into the first team roster by new boss Giuseppe Iachini later in January 2014 as a replacement to on-loan youngster Valerio Verre. Vázquez was then being used also as a second striker in a more regular basis,…

Italy

A dual Argentine-Italian citizen, Vázquez had declared he was uncertain about whether to accept the possible upcoming call-up from Italy in 2014. Later in January 2015, he stated he would likely accept a call-up from then-Italy head coach Antonio Conte, in part because of the heavy competition for a spot in the Argentina national team. However, he later accepted the call, and then regretted it, declaring instead his intentions to represent Argentina. Vázquez has appeared in two international matches for Italy, both friendlies and therefore remains eligible to play for La Albiceleste. On 21 March 2015, Vázquez received his first Italy national team call up for a UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying match against Bulgaria and a friendly match against England. Italy head coach Antonio Conte was criticised for calling up Argentine-born Vázquez as well as Brazilian-born Éder. Speaking at a Serie A meeting on 23 March 2015, Roberto Mancini said, "The Italian national team should be Italian. An Italian player deserves to play for the national team while someone who wasn't born in Italy, even if they have relatives, I don't think they deserve to." Conte's response to the use of foreign-born players was, "If Mauro Camoranesi [who was born in Argentina] was allowed to help Italy win the 2006 World Cup, then why can't Éder and Franco Vázquez lead the Azzurri to glory in next year's European Championship?" Vázquez made his international debut in Italy's 1–1 friendly draw against…

Vázquez is a quick, talented, and mobile left-footed player, who, despite not being particularly fast, possesses a decent burst of acceleration and good physical strength, as well as excellent dribbling skills, close control, and a solid first touch, which enables him to turn past challenges, beat opposing players, and run towards goal during counter-attacks, or retain the ball in tight spaces and hold up the ball for teammates with his back to goal; he also has a penchant for using the nutmeg, which is often a trademark move he utilises in order to get past his opponents. On top of his technical skills, flair, creativity, and elegant movements on the ball, he is also known for his vision and passing ability, which make him an effective assist provider. Indeed, during the 2014–15 Serie A season, he was one of the joint top assist providers in the league, alongside his teammate Dybala, with ten assists. In addition to his creative abilities, he is also capable of contributing to his team's offence with goals, due to his accurate striking ability from distance. A hard-working and tactically versatile player, he is usually deployed as an attacking midfielder, although he has also been deployed in several other positions: he has been used as a winger, as a deep-lying playmaker in midfield, as a false 9, as a second forward, and even as an offensive-minded central midfielder, known as the mezz'ala role, in Italian. His playing style has drawn comparisons with Javier Pastore, Juan…

Vázquez was born in Argentina to an Italian mother (born in Padua) and an Argentine father, therefore Vázquez holds both passports. As a youngster he was nicknamed "El mudo", which means "Mute" in Spanish, due to his introverted nature. In his native Argentina, he is often referred to by the aforementioned nickname.