Maxi López

At the end of the season, he had scored 8 goals in 35 appearances, finishing 12th in the Serie A table with Catania.

Maximiliano Gastón López (born 3 April 1984) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a second striker.

He holds both an Argentine and an Italian passport.

He is known as El Rubio ("The Blonde"), and La Gallina de Oro ("The Golden Hen").

Formed at River Plate, he spent most of his career in Italy, making 215 Serie A appearances and scoring 46 goals for Catania, A.C. Milan, Sampdoria, Chievo, Torino and Udinese.

López began his career in 1997 with River Plate.

On 19 August 2001, at age 17, he made his senior debut, against Talleres de Córdoba.

That same season, he was officially promoted to the senior squad following five years with the youth program.

With River Plate, he was a standout striker and the club won the Torneo Clausura in 2002, 2003 and 2004.

With River Plate, he made 56 appearances, scoring 13 goals.

In January 2005, Barcelona signed López on a 41⁄2-year contract for €6.2 million following an injury to striker Henrik Larsson.

On his UEFA Champions League debut on 23 February, he came on as a second-half substitute for Ludovic Giuly and within four minutes beat Chelsea defender William Gallas to score an equaliser with his first shot for the club, an eventual 2–1 first-leg win.

He also played in Spain for Barcelona and Mallorca, winning the La Liga and UEFA Champions League double with the former in 2006, and for Grêmio and Vasco da Gama in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A.

His only other goal for the club came in a Copa del Rey tie against Zamora on 11 January 2006.

López failed to break into the club's first team; in his two seasons in La Liga, he made just 14 league appearances.

López transferred to Mallorca on loan for the 2006–07 season, with the deal not including a purchasing option.

He scored 3 goals in 25 matches, and returned to Barcelona in the summer of 2007, only to be sold to FC Moscow on 16 August 2007 after a €2 million transfer fee was agreed by the clubs.

With Moscow, López made 22 league appearances and scored 9 goals.

On 13 February 2009, Brazilian club Grêmio signed López on a season-long loan.

He made his debut the following month in a game against Santa Cruz.

His first goal for the club came against São José-PA on 18 March 2009.

López scored four goals in the 2009 Copa Libertadores and the winner in the centenary Gre-Nal derby match.

On 20 January 2010, López transferred to Catania for a €3 million transfer fee, signing a contract lasting until 30 June 2013.

He made his Serie A debut on 31 January, [24] playing 55 minutes in the match against the Udinese.

In the next match, away to Lazio (0–1), he scored his first goal and the match-winner for the Rossazzurri.

On 3 April, he scored his first brace in the Italian top flight during the Sicilian derby against Palermo.

He closed the season in double figures, scoring 11 goals in 17 appearances and contributed to the safety of the Etnei in Serie A.

The following season, López scored his first goal in a 2–0 home victory against Cesena on 22 September 2010.

In the 2011–12 season, López scored his first goal on 18 September 2011, converting a penalty against Cesena.

On 18 December 2011, in the match won 2–0 by Catania against Palermo, he converted his second penalty of the season and was tearfully substituted by Gonzalo Bergessio for a possible farewell before the winter session of the transfer window.

On 27 January 2012, López was officially transferred to A.C. Milan in a €1.5 million loan move, with a buying option set at €8 million.

López scored his first goal as a Milan player on 11 February 2012 in an away game against Udinese, equalising for Milan before going on to assist Stephan El Shaarawy to score the game-winning goal.

However, at the end of the season, he returned to Catania after Milan opted not to exercise their buying option.

On 11 July, López joined Sampdoria on a season-long loan deal from Catania.

López returned to Catania from a loan spell for the duration of the 2013–14 season and on 28 January 2014, he rejoined Sampdoria on loan for the remainder of the Serie A campaign.

He scored a winning goal in his first match back for Sampdoria against Genoa on 3 February 2014.

On 30 June 2014, López signed a one-year deal with Chievo with an option to extend his contract for a further year after Catania relegation.

He made his debut on the first day of the 2014–15 Serie A season, 30 August, against Juventus, playing the full 90 minutes of a 1–0 home loss.

He signed a contract with Milan until 30 June 2015 to receive €700,000 until the end of the 2011–12 season and €1.5 million per year for the following three seasons.

He chose the number 21 shirt.