Pastore Javier
Javier Matías Pastore is an Argentine footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for La Liga club Elche and the Argentina national team. Pastore began his club career with Talleres and then Huracán in his native Argentina before moving to Serie A team Palermo in 2009 for a reported transfer fee of €4.7 million. In 2011, French side Paris Saint-Germain bought him for a reported €39.8 million. He won numerous domestic honours with the club, including five Ligue 1 titles, before joining Roma in 2018, for a fee of €24.7 million. At international level, Pastore made his senior debut in 2010, and has since gone on to make over 20 appearances for his country. He represented Argentina at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and at three editions of the Copa América, reaching consecutive finals of the latter competition in 2015 and 2016. Pastore was born in Córdoba in an Italian-Argentine family originally from Volvera, Turin. He started his career in the youth system of the Argentine club Talleres, and slowly worked his way up to the first team. In 2007, he made his debut in the Argentine second division under the wing of manager Ricardo Gareca. In 2007, he only managed to play five games.
Did you Know?
An elegant, creative and technically gifted advanced playmaker, with excellent dribbling skills and close control, Pastore is capable of playing in several offensive roles, due to his ability to both score and create goals. Although he is usually deployed as an attacking midfielder due to his vision, passing and striking ability from distance, he is also capable of functioning as a winger, as a supporting striker or even as a forward, and has also been deployed in more withdrawn midfield roles on occasion, operating as a central midfielder, as a deep-lying playmaker, or even as a mezzala, due to his work-rate, creativity, skill, and physical attributes, despite his lack of notable pace. A talented, strong, quick and hard-working right-footed player, his playing style has drawn comparisons to Kaká, Zinedine Zidane, Zlatan Ibrahimović and one of his childhood idols, Enzo Francescoli, although Pastore has stated that his main influence is compatriot Juan Román Riquelme. Nicknamed “El Flaco” (like Francescoli before him) due to his tall, slender build, he was regarded as a highly promising player as a youngster, and in 2010, Don Balón named him as one of the 100 best young players in the world born after 1988. Despite his talent, however, he is known to be injury prone, and has also drawn criticism in the media for being inconsistent.
