Edinson Cavani

Date of Birth: - 14th February 1987



Nationality: - Uruguayan



Height: - 6ft 2inches



Position: - Striker



Club History: - Danubio

- Palermo

- Napoli



Linked With: - Chelsea

- Real Madrid

- Man City

- Juventus



Estimated Market Value: - There is no exact figure, as it could be pushed up heavily due to a bidding war from the likes of Chelsea and Madrid, but I would say around the 40million pounds mark.





Club career





Danubio:

Edinson Cavani moved to local side Danubio in the location of Montevideo at the age of 12 and came through the youth system for around 5 years. During this time through the youth setup, Cavani would make rapid progress and single-handedly forced his way into the first team setup.



Cavani eventually made his Apertura (league) debut in 2006 at the age of 17, and actually played a massive role in the winning of the Apertura 2006 championship squad, scoring nine goals in his debut season, most of them from the bench, which makes that statistic even more impressive.



Due to his impressive impacts and performances in his debut season in the Apertura, Cavani was then called up for the Uruguayan youth team, to compete in the 2007 South American Youth Championship.







Palermo:

During the South American Youth Championship, Cavani impressed even more people by playing an instrumental role for Uruguay (youth), but primarily through his strength and passion for the game, which led to several teams being reportedly interested in signing Cavani, predominently from Europe. (See Internation Career further down the page for more information on this tournament).



29th January 2007 - Despite reported interest from 'top' European clubs, Palermo made the shock announcement of the signing of Cavani for 4.75 million pounds.



11th March 2007 - Cavani made his Serie A for Palermo in a home draw against Fiorentina, coming on as a substitute with his team 0-1 down and then scoring an impressive equaliser only 15 minutes later.Unfortunately though his first team appearances were limited for the rest of the season, and mainly took his role as a squad player as he was only 18/19 at the time. This was also the case with the following season, and there was much speculation over Cavani departing on loan to gain some first-team experience.



After Palermo selling striker Amauri to Juventus in June 2008, Cavani cemented his place in the starting lineup for the 2008/2009 season, forming a striking partnership with Fabrizio Miccoli and scoring a total 14 goals in the 2008/2009 season.



Cavani also retained his place for the 2009/2010 season, 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 (pending success through the qualification rounds) with two games remaining.



April 2010 - Cavani signed a new contract with Palermo valid to June 2014 to supposedly end any speculation over his departure from the Italian side.









Napoli:



July 2010 - Cavani signed a reported five-year contract with Napoli. The fee was around 17 million Euro's, but it was broken down into payments of 5 million, followed by 12 million the next year.



August 2010 - Cavani scored twice in his first start, as Napoli beat Elfsborg in the Europa League 2-0 and qualified for the main tournament.



Cavani then started his Napoli Serie A in spectacular fashion, scoring a controversial goal against Fiorentina.



Cavani then also scored on his home debut against Bari before adding a late winner against Sampdoria, meaning he had scored in his first four competitive matches with Napoli.



26th September 2010 - Cavani came on as a late replacement with 30 minutes left in a game against Cesena which Napoli were losing 1-0. After assisting the equalising goal, he went on to score two more, with the final score 4-1. That meant Cavani shared the lead as top scorer for the entire Serie A with Samuel Eto'o after just 2 months with his new clubs.



15th December 2010 - Cavani netted a 92nd minute goal against Steaua Bucuresti to help his team to a 1-0 win and progress beyond the group stage of the UEFA Europa League.



In the first post-group match (which was held in Romania) Cavani had scored an equalising goal in the 97th minute.



9th January 2011 - Cavani scored a hat-trick during a 3-0 win over Juventus, the third goal coming by way of an absolutely fantastic 'scorpion kick'.



30th January 2011 - Cavani scored yet another hat-trick, this time in a 4-0 win over Sampdoria.



Cavani then continued his fine form scoring a brace against Roma the following week, with Napoli winning 2-0.



20th March 2011 - Cavani scored another winning brace against Cagliari in a 2-1 win, which kept Napoli within three points of leaders AC Milan with eight games left.



3rd April 2011 - Cavani scored yet another hat-trick in a 4-3 comeback win over Lazio, having been 2-0 and 3-2 down during the game. Cavani also became the highest league goalscorer in a single season in Napoli's history, netting 25 goals in Serie A alone.



26th May 2011 - In an away 2-1 loss against Lecce he received a red card, after receiving two yellow cards. He also sarcastically applauded the referee after the decision and was handed a two-match ban for the action, and as Napoli only had two more games of the season left, it meant that Cavani's season was over and that he wouldn't be able to regain the top-scorer position in Serie A, as Antonio Di Natale had surpassed him with 26 goals.



19th May 2011 - Cavani signed a new five-year contract with Napoli, keeping him with the Italian side until 2016.



14th September 2011 - Cavani scored the opener in Napoli's first game of their Champions League campaign in a 1-1 away draw at Manchester City.



18th September 2011 - Four days later, he scored a hat-trick against Milan in Napoli's 3-1 home demolition of the San Siro giants.



22nd November 2011 - Cavani scored both goals in the match winning brace 2-1 at home against Manchester City in the Champions League, leaving Napoli in pole position to follow Bayern Munich into the knockout stage and raising expectations from all of Europe, and really making an impression.



26th November 2011 - Cavani scored a 94th minute equaliser against Atalanta after Napoli were a goal down.



21st December 2011 - Cavani netted a brace in Napoli's 6-1 thrashing of Genoa, helping Napoli finish the year strong and end the first half of the season in sixth place.



17th February 2012 - Cavani scored two goals against Fiorentina, helping Napoli move up two places in the league to fifth.



21st February 2012 - Cavani scored the second goal against Chelsea in the Champions League round of 16 first leg in Naples. He also provided the assists for both of Ezequiel Lavezzi's goals that game. Napoli subsequently went on to win this game 3-1.



Following Napoli's exit from the Champions League at the hands of Chelsea (on aggregate), Cavani scored two goals against Udinese in the last ten minutes to earn a much needed draw to keep Napoli in the hunt for the last Champions League qualifying spot. A few days later, he converted a fantastic counter attack against Siena to book Napoli a place in the Coppa Italia Final.









International career:

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



6th February 2008 - Cavani made his first senior appearance for the Uruguay national team, and immediately scored a goal in his debut in a 2-2 draw with Colombia.



10th July 2010 - Cavani scored against Germany in the third place match in the 2010 FIFA World Cup making the game 1-1, but despite his efforts Germany went on to win the game 3-2.



27th July 2011 - Cavani played in a friendly match against Angola in Lisbo, where he scored a late goal in the match in a 2-0 win for Uruguay.



8th October 2011 - Cavani scored his first career hat-trick at International level during a friendly match against Indonesia.









Club Statistics:



Danubio - 30 appearances, 12 goals.



Palermo - 117 appearances, 37 goals.



Napoli (as of 15/04/2012) - 89 appearances, 61 goals.



Total - 236 appearances, 110 goals.









General Comments:

This profile purely consists of 'Cavani scored yet another brace' and 'yet another hat-rick' and 'yet another goal' for one reason. He's class. I watched him when he was first at Palermo and honestly, you could tell he had real potential, but in all honesty I had doubts whether he'd ever really cut it here in Europe. However, he has really met his potential, and is pushing his own limits. He is, in my opinion, one of the best Strikers in the world to date. His figures are incredible for Napoli. If my maths is right then he scores every 1 and a quarter games, and that includes Champions League games also. That's just incredible. I haven't really seen any weaknesses in Cavani's game, as he seems one of the best in the world to date. Time for my transfer thoughts/information on Cavani then. I can officially state that in the January window Higuain was offered to Chelsea for a cut-price, on the condition that they did not bid for Cavani (which Chelsea rejected). That's how serious the Real Madrid interest is. However, unless they can offload Higuain (which they are trying to do), then I doubt the Cavani deal will be able to take place. With this in mind though, Cavani's first choice is with Madrid over a move to London, and Cavani has no interest in moving to Manchester at all. I'd personally say the move to Juventus will not happen, and I believe that he will move to Madrid once Higuain is sold. I anticipate Cavani to be the most talked about transfer saga this summer, and is certainly one to watch.



Thanks all,



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