An impressive career that included four nations and saw him make more than 450 appearances for senior clubs the ex- Argentine player Maxi Lopez is reportedly close to purchasing Championship Club Birmingham City.
Together with Blues patron as well as Businessman Paul Richardson, Lopez is the chief of a group that is set to announce their plans to purchase Midlands-based football club following the departure of former chairman Laurence Bassini missed his deadline of exclusivity in order to make a deal happen.
After falling to six consecutive seasons of finishing below or 17th in the second-tier of England under the chairman currently Wenqing Zhao, Birmingham fans are sure to welcome the new owner and hope for an eventual Premier League return.
However, with not much information on Lopez’s role in the takeover, there is an underlying sense of curiosity and concern is currently surrounding St. Andrews.
In this piece we go at Maxi Lopez’s career in football as well as his work after football and where funds for the Birmingham acquisition will be coming from.
Maxi Lopez’s career spans from River Plate and Catania to Barcelona and Milan
The boy was raised to Buenos Aires in Argentina, like many other players from the same region, Lopez was a part of the renowned club River Plate in his early career.
At the age of 17 years old, Lopez made his debut as a senior with the team in the year 2001. He was later to play 70 times for the club in all competitions and score 16 goals over that period.
Given his potential early on, European giants Barcelona came to the rescue and in January 2005 Lopez was offered a move from Spain at EUR6.2 million (PS5.3m). His time at the Catalan club didn’t go according exactly as planned and despite scoring just four minutes in his debut match in the Champions League against Chelsea during the Champions League, he only played 19 times for the club before moving to FC Moscow on a permanent deal in the year 2007.
A few flutters that included Gremio, Catania, Milan and Sampdoria as well as others continued until Lopez decided to announce his retirement from the game in 2021. In all, Lopez ended up making 418 appearances for clubs throughout his career, scoring 110 goals, as well as representing his nation of Argentina more than 30 times during his youth.
What is the reason why Maxi Lopez and Mauro Icardi not like each other?
In addition to playing in the top leagues like Serie A and La Liga, Lopez is also well-known for his relationship with his former teammate Mauro Icardi who plays with Paris Saint-Germain.
This is due to the fact that Lopez’s ex-wife Wanda Nara, who he was married during five years of marriage and who has three children and later got married to Icardi.
Lopez and Icardi were close to each other after having fun together playing at Italian team Sampdoria. According to the reports, Lopez would invite his fellow countryman to holidays with his family, and even open his home to Icardi when Icardi first came to Europe from Argentina.
Infidelity allegations led to Lopez refusing to touch Icardi’s hand during the game against Sampdoria as well as Inter Milan in 2014, prompting the media to call the match the ‘Wanda derby’.
