Maxi Gómez

Maximiliano "Maxi" Gómez González (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈmaksi ˈɣomes]; born 14 August 1996) is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a striker for La Liga club Valencia and the Uruguay national team.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Gómez and the second or maternal family name is González.
Maxi Gómez
Gómez with Valencia in 2020
Personal information
Full name Maximiliano Gómez González
Date of birth (1996-08-14) 14 August 1996
Place of birth Paysandú, Uruguay
Height 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)[1]
Position(s) Striker
Club information
Current team
 Valencia
Number 22
Youth career
Litoral
2013–2015 Defensor Sporting
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2015–2017 Defensor Sporting 47 (28)
2017–2019 Celta 71 (30)
2019– Valencia 47 (15)
National team‡
2017– Uruguay 19 (3)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 4 January 2021
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 13 October 2020

Having begun his career with Defensor Sporting, he moved to Spain in 2017, where he represented Celta and Valencia in La Liga.

A full international for Uruguay since 2017, he was selected for the 2018 FIFA World Cup and 2019 Copa América.

Club career

Defensor Sporting

Born in Paysandú, Gómez joined Defensor Sporting's youth setup in 2013, from CA Litoral.[2] He made his first team debut on 15 September 2015, coming on as a late substitute for Héctor Acuña in a 1–0 away win against Universitario for the year's Copa Sudamericana.[3]

Gómez made his Primera División debut on 4 October 2015, but in a 0–4 away loss against Nacional.[4] His first senior goal came on 16 October, the last in a 2–3 home defeat against Montevideo Wanderers.[5]

On 31 October 2015, Gómez scored a brace in a 4–1 home routing of Juventud de Las Piedras; he repeated the feat on 20 November in a 2–2 home draw against El Tanque Sisley, and also in a 3–2 home success over Danubio the following 28 February. On 22 May 2016, he scored four goals in a 6–5 away win against El Tanque Sisley, and finished his first season with 14 goals in only 21 matches.[6]

After only four goals in 14 matches in the 2016 campaign, Gómez contributed with ten goals in 12 matches in 2017; highlights included a brace in a 2–0 away win against Danubio on 5 March 2017.[7]

Celta
Gómez with Celta in 2018

In May 2017, Gómez signed a five-year deal with La Liga side Celta Vigo, moving abroad for the first time in his career.[8] He made his debut for the club on 19 August, starting and scoring a brace in a 2–3 home loss against Real Sociedad,[9] and finished his debut season with 17 goals from 36 games, seventh highest in the division.[10]

Gómez contributed 13 goals in 2018–19 as Celta finished one place above relegation. This included one on the final day, as they defeated newly crowned champions FC Barcelona 2–0 at Balaídos.[11]

Valencia

On 14 July 2019, Gómez signed a contract with Valencia CF until 2024, with his release clause set at €140 million.[12] The deal saw Valencia pay €14.5 million with Santi Mina and Jorge Sáenz moving in the opposite direction, the latter joining Celta on a two-year loan deal.[13] He made his debut on 24 August away to his former club, playing the first hour of a 1–0 loss before being replaced by Rodrigo.[14]

Gómez scored his first goal for the Che on 14 September, coming off the bench to net at the end of a 5–2 loss to Barcelona at the Camp Nou.[15] Against the same opponents on 25 January 2020, he scored both goals in a 2–0 victory at Mestalla, preserving his team's unbeaten home season and inflicting a first defeat of Quique Setién's spell in charge of the opponents.[16]

International career

Gómez made his international debut for Uruguay on 10 November 2017 in a goalless friendly away to Poland, as a 74th-minute substitute for Giorgian De Arrascaeta.[17] Manager Óscar Tabárez called him up for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia,[18] where he made his first competitive appearance in the final group game as an added-time replacement in a 3–0 win over the hosts in Samara.[19]

On 26 March 2019, Gómez scored his first international goal to round off a 4–0 victory over Thailand and win the China Cup.[20] He was called up for the 2019 Copa América in Brazil.[21]

Honors

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 25 January 2021[23][24]
Club Season League Cup Continental Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Defensor Sporting 2015–16 Uruguayan Primera División 2114—4[lower-alpha 1]0—2514
2016 144—00—144
2017 1210—1[lower-alpha 1]1—1311
Total 4728—51—5229
Celta Vigo 2017–18 La Liga 361730——3917
2018–19 351310——3613
Total 713040——7530
Valencia 2019–20 La Liga 3310316[lower-alpha 2]01[lower-alpha 3]04311
2020–21 17500——175
Total 50153160106016
Career total 16873711111018775
  1. Appearance(s) in Copa Sudamericana
  2. Appearance(s) in UEFA Champions League
  3. Appearance(s) in Supercopa de España

International
As of match played 13 October 2020[25]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Uruguay 201720
201870
201982
202021
Total193

International goals
Scores and results list Uruguay's goal tally first.[25]
List of international goals scored by Maxi Gómez
NoDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.25 March 2019Guangxi Sports Center, Nanning, China Thailand4–04–02019 China Cup
2.7 June 2019Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay Panama1–03–0Friendly
3.8 October 2020 Chile2–12–12022 FIFA World Cup qualification

References
  1. "2018 FIFA World Cup: List of players" (PDF). FIFA. 18 June 2018. p. 32. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 June 2018. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  2. "Un "inconsciente": con 19 años, "Maxi" Gómez hizo historia violeta" [An "unconscious": with 19 years, "Maxi" Gómez made history violeta] (in Spanish). Ovación. 3 October 2015. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  3. "Defensor vuela en la Copa, 1:0 en Perú" [Defensor fly in the cup, 1–0 in Peru] (in Spanish). Tenfield. 16 September 2015. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  4. "Nacional de gala, goleó 4:0" [Gala Nacional, thrashed 4–0] (in Spanish). Tenfield. 4 October 2015. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  5. "Wanderers derrotó 3 a 2 a Defensor en el Franzini" [Wanderers defeated Danubio by 3–2 at the Franzini] (in Spanish). Teledoce. 16 October 2015. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  6. "Maxi Gómez, el jugador de la etapa" [Maxi Gómez, the player of the season] (in Spanish). Tenfield. 23 May 2016. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  7. "Defensor Sporting clásico ganador, 2:0" [Defensor Sporting winners of the Clásico, 2–0] (in Spanish). Tenfield. 5 March 2017. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  8. "Maxi Gómez, imponente goleador de presente y futuro para el RC Celta" [Maxi Gómez, imposing goalscorer for the present and future for RC Celta] (in Spanish). Celta Vigo. 22 May 2017. Archived from the original on 6 June 2017. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  9. "La Real Sociedad remonta con penalti polémico" [Real Sociedad comeback with a controversial penalty] (in Spanish). Marca. 19 August 2017. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
  10. Joseph, Naveen Ravi (18 August 2018). "LaLiga 2018/19: Top 5 U-21 players to watch out for". Sportskeeda. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  11. "Celta Vigo 2–0 Barcelona". BBC Sport. 4 May 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  12. "Comunicado oficial" [Official statement]. Valencia CF. 14 July 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  13. Burke, Dan (14 July 2019). "Valencia complete Maxi Gómez signing". Onefootball. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  14. López de Vicente, Sergio (24 August 2019). "Celta 1 - Valencia 0: resumen y goles de LaLiga Santander" [Celta 1–0 Valencia: LaLiga Santander summary and goals]. Diario AS (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  15. Mann, Mantej (14 September 2019). "Barcelona 5–2 Valencia". BBC Sport. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  16. "Valencia inflict first defeat of Setien reign on Barcelona". Shropshire Star. 25 January 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  17. "Uruguay y Polonia empataron 0-0 en Varsovia" [Uruguay and Poland drew 0–0 in Warsaw] (in Spanish). Subrayado. 10 November 2017. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  18. "World Cup 2018: Uruguay leave out Gaston Ramirez". BBC Sport. 2 June 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  19. Jennings, Patrick (25 June 2018). "Uruguay 3–0 Russia". BBC Sport. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  20. "Uruguay win 2019 China Cup". China Daily. 26 March 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  21. "Suarez included in Uruguay's final Copa America squad despite injury concerns". Goal. 31 May 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  22. https://int.soccerway.com/matches/2019/03/25/world/china-cup/thailand/uruguay/2986241/
  23. Maxi Gómez at Soccerway. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  24. "Maximiliano Gómez". SofaScore. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  25. Maxi Gómez at National-Football-Teams.com
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