Clubs: CA River Plate, FC Barcelona, AS Monaco FC (loan), Sevilla FC (loan), Real Madrid CF, SL Benfica

UEFA honours
UEFA Cup: winner 2006

• Hailed as a special talent at an early age, Saviola made his senior debut for River Plate at 16; won two Argentinian titles with the club and was voted South American Footballer of the Year while still only 18.

• A winner of the 2001 FIFA U-20 World Cup – at which he was the top scorer and officially voted best player − and the 2004 Olympics with Argentina, he represented the senior team at the 2004 Copa América, 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup and 2006 FIFA World Cup, scoring against the Ivory Coast (2-1) in the latter.

• Left River Plate for Barcelona in 2001 and lived up to his billing and €20m transfer fee with 17 Liga goals in his debut campaign; managed 13 and 14, respectively, in the next two seasons but deemed surplus to requirements and spent the following two campaigns away from the Camp Nou on loan – first at Monaco, then at Sevilla, with whom he won the 2005/06 UEFA Cup, scoring six goals in the competition.

• Back at Barça in 2006/07 but his stock was beginning to fade and a move to rivals Madrid failed to reignite his career – despite winning the Liga title (something that had eluded him at Barça) in his first season.

• Found his feet again at Benfica, scoring 19 goals in all competitions in his debut campaign as the Lisbon club regained the Portuguese title and reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa League; despite this he was not recalled for international duty at 2010 FIFA World Cup finals.