Icardi began his footballing career at the youth teams of Vecindario and passed through La Masia , the youth system of La Liga club Barcelona , before moving to Serie A club Sampdoria to begin his professional career in After an impressive season, he joined Inter Milan in July , [ 4 ] where he developed into one of the most prolific strikers in Europe.
Icardi won the Capocannoniere in both the —15 and —18 seasons, [ note 1 ] and was named the captain of Inter in , at age Icardi made his senior debut for Argentina in October He played sparingly until , earning eight caps and scoring once. Icardi was born in Rosario , Argentina and moved to Canary Islands when he was nine. He began his football career with Vecindario in Gran Canaria , and scored over 50 goals in their youth categories.
Barcelona won the race for Icardi, and signed with him until Icardi joined the Catalan club at the start of —09 season and was included on the U team. He was promoted to the U team the following season before joining Sampdoria on loan in January Icardi later stated that leaving Barcelona was not a bad decision, and that he was convinced that his decision was the right one. On 11 January , Sampdoria confirmed Icardi had signed with the club on loan [ 12 ] until the end of the season.
On 12 May , he made his first-team debut, against Juve Stabia , after coming off the bench to replace Bruno Fornaroli in the 75th minute of the match. Ten minutes later, Icardi scored his first professional goal to win the match 2—1 for Sampdoria. On 26 September , he made his Serie A debut for Sampdoria against Roma , substituting the Paraguayan midfielder Marcelo Estigarribia in the 49th minute.
On 27 January , he scored four goals in a six-goal thrashing of fellow strugglers Pescara , lifting the Genoese side clear of the Serie A relegation zone.
