Javier Saviola confirms return to River Plate, where he will retireThe former Barça and Real Madrid forward lands back in Argentina after a long and illustrious career in EuropeEx-Barça forward Javier Saviola has returned to River Plate, some 14 years after his departure. The 33-year-old striker played previously at the club between 1998-2001 and
joins alongside four other players: Pablo Aimar, Luis Gonzalez, Tabare, Viudez and Nicolas Bertolo.Saviola arrived at Barcelona from River Plate in the summer of 2001, for a fee of 24 million euros. He scored 60 goals in 146 games between 2001 and 2004, he was loaned out to Monaco and Sevilla in the following years.
He returned to Barça in 2006/2007, scoring 12 goals in 26 games, but joined Real Madrid on a free transfer. He played for Los Blancos between 2007-2009, scoring five goals in 31 games.
Afterwards, he signed for Benfica (2009-2012), Malaga (2012-2013), Olympiacos (2013-2014) and Hellas Verona (2014-2015). On Thursday, he was presented as a new player for River, where he will hang up his boots.
Rodolfo D'Onofrio, River president, said: "Thank you for returning to our home, which is your home. River will always be River."
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