What happened to the Argentine who was expected to be even better than Lionel Messi?
Mauro Zarate was followed by one comment throughout his career. Just before his move to Lazio became official, the club’s president Claudio Lotito boldly said, “He will turn out better than Lionel Messi.”
At that time, Zarate had just finished a six-month loan with Premier League team Birmingham City. He was used to being a star in Argentina, but this brought a whole new level of pressure.
To get why Lotito’s words were so big, you have to look back. After helping Argentina win the under-20 World Cup in 2007 and doing great with his childhood club Velez Sarsfield, many thought he’d make a big move to Europe like his teammate Sergio Aguero.
But surprisingly, Zarate went to Al Sadd in Qatar for about £13 million. He earned a good contract there but only played six games before going on loan to Birmingham.
He scored four goals in 14 games under manager Alex McLeish, catching the eye of Newcastle and Tottenham in 2008. Lots of clubs wanted him that summer, but Lazio and Lotito won the race for his signature on another loan.
Looking back, comparing him to Messi was a little much. Still, Zarate scored 13 goals in 36 games in his first season at Lazio, which earned him a permanent £17 million transfer.
Sadly, things didn’t go as well after that. He had a tough second season at Lazio with some disciplinary problems and was loaned to Inter Milan in 2011-2012 but struggled there too. He then returned to Velez Sarsfield in 2013.
During his 19-year career, Zarate played for four Premier League teams, including West Ham, who gave him a two-year deal in 2014. Like before, he scored on his debut with a stunning 20-yard volley against Crystal Palace but couldn’t keep up the good form. He scored a few more goals before moving to QPR in January 2015.
A year later, Fiorentina signed him for about £1.6 million. After that, Zarate admitted, “West Ham was a mistake and I didn’t think it through. The Premier League is fun and the money is very different, so that influenced me.”
Despite his struggles, he joined Watford in January 2017 but soon tore his ACL just weeks into the season, ending his year early.
He had loan spells at Al Nasr and Velez Sarsfield before Boca Juniors took a chance on him. Zarate won two league titles in three years there but left in May 2021 because he wasn’t getting much playing time – a pattern in his career.
Later, he played in Brazil for America Mineiro and Juventude, as well as for Atletico Platense and Italy’s Cosenza. He retired in 2023 after a short time with Uruguay’s Danubio.
Since then, Zarate has represented West Ham at The Soccer Tournament (TST), a 7-a-side event in the US, playing alongside his old teammate Ricardo Vaz Te.