Edinson Cavani (born 14 February 1987 in Salto, Uruguay) is a Uruguayan and Italian footballer who plays as a striker for Manchester United in the English Premier League.
In 2007, Cavani joined Palermo FC in Serie A. In 2010, Cavani joined Napoli F.C. Cavani played for Napoli for three years, scoring 104 goals in 130 games and winning the Serie A Golden Boot with 29 league goals in 2012-13. In July 2013, Cavani joined Paris Saint-Germain for a transfer fee of 64.5 million euros. In his seven seasons, Cavani made 301 appearances, becoming the team's all-time top scorer with 200 goals, helping Paris Saint-Germain win six Ligue 1 titles and twice the Ligue 1 Golden Boot. In October 2020, Cavani joined Manchester United Football Club.
For the national team, in 2007, Cavani scored seven goals at the South American U20 Championship and won the Golden Boot. In 2010, Cavani helped the Uruguayan national team finish fourth at the World Cup in South Africa. In 2011, Cavani won the Copa America with the Uruguayan national team. In 2017, Cavani became the Top Scorer in South America in the World Cup qualifiers in Russia with 10 goals. In 2018, Cavani scored twice in the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Russia, helping the team beat the Portuguese national team 2-1 to reach the quarterfinals.
As a child, Edinson Cavani was nicknamed "Pelado" because his hair grew slowly. Cavani's childhood friend recalls that in class, Cavani was very shy and always liked to hide in the last row of the classroom. All day long he waited for one thing — the bell ringing at the end of class — and then he could go to the playground and play football.
Cavani's family was not wealthy. At one point, Edani's father, encouraging him, promised to buy him an ice cream and a coke for every goal he scored. As a result, Cavani scored seven goals that day and almost broke his father
Club career
During the Danubio period
In 2000, Cavani entered the academy of Danubio. In 2006, Cavani was promoted to the first team and helped the team win the Uruguayan Spring League.
Palermo period
In January 2007, Palermo signed Cavani for 5 million euros. On 11 March, in a Serie A match against Fiorentina at home in Palermo, Cavani made his Serie A debut, and with the team 10-11 and trailing 0-1, cavani, who came off the bench in the 55th minute, equalised with a right-foot volley from the edge of the penalty area.
The 2007–08 season was Cavani's first full Serie A season. Thanks to the presence of Fabrizio Miccoli and Amauri, Cavani played as a winger for the team, playing in 37 games and scoring five goals.
In the summer of 2008, Amaury moved to Juventus and Cavani returned to centre-forward position. In the 2008–09 season, Cavani scored 14 league goals.
In the 2009–10 season, Cavani scored 15 goals in all competitions. In his four seasons in Palermo, Cavani made 117 appearances in all competitions and scored 37 goals.
Neapolitan period
On 14 July 2010, Napoli agreed with Palermo on Cavani's transfer, which took place in the first year when Cavani joined Napoli on loan and napoli bought his entire ownership for €16 million the following year.
On 15 December 2010, napoli won 1-0 against Bucharest Stars in the Europa League group stage match, becoming the only Serie A team to qualify for the knockout stages thanks to Cavani's header in the 93rd minute. On 10 January 2011, in Napoli's 3-0 win over Juventus in Serie A, Cavani scored a hat-trick on all three goals. On 30 January, in a 4-0 victory over Sampdoria in Serie A, Cavani scored a hat-trick. On April 3, in a 4-3 win over Lazio in Serie A, Cavani scored a hat-trick in 22 minutes and created a penalty. In 2010–11, Cavani made 47 appearances in all competitions, scoring 33 goals, becoming the single-season top scorer in Napoli club history; was named to the Best Team in Serie A; and scored 26 goals in the league after Antonio Di Natale, ranking second in the Serie A top scorer list.
On 18 September 2011, in Napoli's 3-1 win over AC Milan in Serie A, Cavani scored a hat-trick on all of the team's goals. Facing the defending serie A champions, Cavani staged the fourth hat-trick of his serie A career. On 23 November, Cavani scored twice in the Champions League group stage napoli's 2-1 victory over Manchester City. After this campaign, Cavani scored 41 goals for Napoli in 62 games. In the group stage, two legs against Manchester City, Cavani scored a total of three goals, helping Napoli to a record of 1 win and 1 draw. On 26 January 2012, in the 2-0 victory of Napoli over Inter Milan in the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia, Cavani helped Napoli reach the quarter-finals twice. Cavani scored his 50th goal for Napoli and ended Inter's history of conceding a 476-minute straight away from home since November 2011. On 25 April, in a 2–0 win over Lecce in Serie A, Cavani scored his 100th goal since landing in Italy. Of these 100 goals, 37 were scored while playing for Palermo (including 34 in Serie A and 3 in the Coppa Italia) and 63 for Napoli (47 in Serie A, 4 in the Coppa Italia, 7 in the Europa League and 5 in the Champions League). On 21 May, during the Coppa Italia final between Napoli and Juventus, Cavani scored a penalty in the second half to help Napoli win 2-0 and win the first trophy in the team's history since the 1990 Italian Super Cup. In 2011–12, Cavani scored 23 goals in 35 league appearances and was named to the Serie A Team of the Season, scoring a total of 33 goals in all competitions.
On 27 September 2012, in a 3-0 win over Lazio in Serie A, although Cavani kicked a penalty in the match, he still scored a hat-trick. On 9 November, in napoli's match against Dnieper in the Europa League group stage, Cavani staged a big four to help Napoli come back 4-2 after falling behind 1-2. On 7 January 2013, in a 4-1 victory over Roma in Serie A, Cavani scored a hat-trick. On 20 January, in a 1-1 draw between Napoli and Fiorentina in Serie A, Cavani's header equalised for Napoli. It was Cavani's 100th goal in Serie A and his 17th in Serie A in 2012-13. On 17 March, in Napoli's 3-2 win over Atalanta in Serie A, Cavani scored twice, ending a goal drought in eight consecutive official matches (six serie a serie a) and scoring at least 20 goals in serie A for three consecutive seasons. On 6 May, in a Serie A match between Napoli and Inter Milan, Cavani scored a hat-trick to help Napoli beat Inter Milan 3-1. In the 2012–13 season, Cavani scored 29 goals in 34 league appearances, helping Napoli to runner-up in the league and winning the Serie A Golden Boot and being named to the Serie A Team of the Season. In his three seasons at Napoli, Cavani made 138 appearances in all competitions, scoring 104 goals.
During the Napoli period, Cavani scored hat-tricks against Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Lazio (twice), Roma and Sampdoria.
Paris Saint-Germain period
On 16 July 2013, Ligue 1 Paris Saint-Germain announced the signing of Cavani from Napoli. Cavani's transfer value reached 64.5 million euros, becoming the summer champion in 2013. On 19 August, in a 1-1 draw between Paris Saint-Germain and Ajaccio in Ligue 1, Cavani equalised in the 86th minute to score his first goal since joining Paris. On 18 December, in the French League Cup quarter-final paris Saint-Germain against Saint-Etienne, Cavani scored twice and defeated his opponent in the 119th minute to help the team win 2-1 and advance to the quarter-finals of the League Cup. In the 2013–14 season, Cavani gave up his position as a centre-forward in the squad as Zlatan Ibrahimovic's deputy, while he himself had to play a regular winger. That season, Cavani scored 25 goals in all competitions, helping Paris win Ligue 1 and the French League Cup.
On 22 October 2014, in the Champions League group stage match between Paris Saint-Germain and Atlético Greeks, Cavani scored the winning goal in the 83rd minute to help the team win 1-0. On 6 November, in the Champions League group stage match between Paris Saint-Germain and Atlético Hellenic, Cavani scored in the opening minute to help the team win 1-0 and advance to the knockout rounds two rounds earlier. On 9 May 2015, Cavani scored a hat-trick in Ligue 1's 6-0 victory over Guingamp by Paris Saint-Germain. On May 31, in the French Cup final Paris Saint-Germain against Auxerre, Cavani scored the only goal of the game in the 65th minute, helping the team beat Auxerre 1-0 to win the French Cup, becoming the first team in French history to win the French Super Cup, Ligue 1, French League Cup and French Cup in a single season. In the 2014–15 season, Cavani made 53 appearances in all competitions, scoring 31 goals.
On 17 December 2015, paris won 1-0 in the French League Cup round-16 match between Paris Saint-Germain and Saint-Etienne, with Cavani's 86th-minute win to advance to the next round. On 4 February 2016, in The 3-1 victory of Paris Saint-Germain over Lorient in Ligue 1, Cavani scored in the 5th minute to help Paris unbeaten in 33 consecutive rounds of Ligue 1, breaking the record of 32 Ligue 1 unbeaten matches set by Nantes. On 8 May, in ligue 1 paris saint-germain against Cazelet. Cavani's header broke the first half and Cavani scored two more goals in the second half to complete a hat-trick to help Paris win 4-0. In the 2015-16 season, Cavani scored 25 goals in 52 appearances in all competitions, helping Paris Saint-Germain defend his title in the French Super Cup, Ligue 1, French League Cup and French Cup.
On 14 September 2016, in the Champions League group stage paris Saint-Germain's 1-1 draw with Arsenal, Cavani scored just 42 seconds after the start. The goal also became Paris' fastest goal in the Champions League. On 17 September, in the 6-0 victory over Caen by Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1, Cavani scored four goals in the first half to score four goals, becoming the first player since 2000 to achieve senior four in the first half of Ligue 1. On 1 December, in the 2-0 victory of Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1, Cavani scored a penalty in the match. It was Cavani's 100th goal for Paris. On 25 January 2017, in the league cup semi-final Paris Saint-Germain's 4-1 victory over Bordeaux, Cavani helped Paris advance to the final. After this campaign, Cavani scored a total of 109 goals for Paris, equalizing Paulletta and ranking second in the club's all-time top scorer list, behind Ibrahimovic. On 9 March, in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, when Paris was reversed 1-6 by Barcelona, Cavani scored the only goal of the game in Paris (Cavani also scored a goal in the first leg to help the team win 4-0). Cavani is the fifth player in history to score a Barca goal in both legs of the Champions League knockout rounds; this goal is Cavani's 20th goal in the Champions League for Paris Saint-Germain, tied with Zlatan Ibrahimović as the all-time paris Champions League top scorer; it is also Cavani's 38th goal in 2016-17, equaling his record of 38 goals in a single season set in 2012-13; after this campaign, Cavani made 44 appearances in the Champions League and scored 25 goals. On 2 April, in the French League Cup final Paris Saint-Germain's 4-1 victory over Monaco, Cavani scored twice, helping Paris reach the top of the League Cup for four consecutive years and also helping Paris win their first title of the 2016-17 season. On 19 April, in Paris Saint-Germain's 3-2 win over Metz, Cavani opened the scoring for the team. The goal was Cavani's 30th goal in Ligue 1 in 2016-17, setting a single-season league goal record for his career. On 28 May, in the French Cup final against Angers in Paris Saint-Germain, Cavani struck a hole in the 91st minute to help the team win the French Cup. It was also paris's second title in 2016-17.
In the 2016-17 season, Ibrasimovic left the team, Cavani returned to his most familiar center position, and finally ushered in the outbreak, all competitions for Paris Saint-Germain 50 appearances, scored 49 goals, set a career single-season scoring record, won the Ligue 1 Golden Boot Award; was elected ligue 1 player; was selected into the ligue 1 team of the season. In the second half of the season, Cavani scored 19 goals in Ligue 1, breaking the all-time goal record of 18 goals in the second half of Ligue 1.
On 13 September 2017, in the Champions League paris Saint-Germain's 5-0 victory over the Celtics, Cavani scored two dollars. After this campaign, Cavani scored 22 goals in the Champions League for Paris Saint-Germain, surpassing Zlatan Ibrahimovic to become the most goalscored player in the team's history in the Champions League. On October 9, Cavani was shortlisted for the 2017 Ballon d'Or. On 21 December, in a Ligue 1 match against Caen at Paris Saint-Germain, Cavani scored on his heel in the 21st minute, his 50th club goal of 2017, and he also became the first player in the five major leagues to complete this achievement. On 28 January 2018, in the 4-0 victory over Montpellier in Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1, Cavani scored the 157th goal of his Paris career in the 11th minute, surpassing Ibrahimovic as the all-time top scorer in Paris. In the 2017-18 season, Cavani scored 28 goals in 32 appearances in Ligue 1, winning the Ligue 1 Golden Boot and being named to the Ligue 1 best team; a total of 47 appearances in all competitions, scoring 40 goals, helping Paris Saint-Germain win Ligue 1, The French Cup, the French League Cup and the French Super Cup.
On October 31, 2018, Cavani won the Golden Foot Award.
In the summer of 2019, Cavani's main position was threatened with the arrival of Argentine striker Icardi on loan from Inter Milan. In June 2020, Cavani's contract with Paris Saint-Germain expired, and Cavani, who lost his main position, decided not to renew his contract.
Manchester United era
On 6 October 2020, Premier League side Manchester United officially announced that Cavani was free to join, and the two sides signed a one-year contract. On 29 November, Cavani came on as a second-half substitute against Southampton, scoring two goals and assisting one to help United beat Southampton 3-2. On 30 April 2021, Cavani scored two passes and two shots in the first leg of the Europa League semi-finals to help the team beat Roma 6-2 at home. Throughout the month of April, Cavani scored five goals for United and was named the player of the month.
On 10 May 2021, Cavani renewed his contract with Manchester United for one year until June 2022.
