Mario Ariel Bolatti (born 17 February 1985) is an Argentine former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

central midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Club career

Bolatti began his career in 2003 at

Belgrano Belgrano may refer to: People * Joaquín Belgrano (1773–1848), an Argentine patriot * José Denis Belgrano (1844–1917), Spanish painter * Joseph Belgrano (1762–1823), Argentine military officer and politician, brother of Manuel * Manuel Be ...

. In 2006, his team was promoted to the

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; ), known officially as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Betano for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Argentina and the highest level of the Argentine football league system. Organ ...

, but the club was relegated after only one season in the top flight. Bolatti was subsequently transferred to Portuguese club

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

in July 2007, where he signed a four-year contract. Porto acquired 60% of his economic rights for future transfer fees the club received while unnamed parties held the remaining 40%. Bolatti moved on a six-month loan to

Huracán Huracán (; ; , "one legged"), often referred to as ''U Kʼux Kaj'', the "Heart of Sky", is a Kʼicheʼ Maya god of wind, storm, fire and one of the creator deities who participated in all three attempts at creating humanity. He also caused th ...

for the 2009 Torneo Clausura upon recommendation from Porto teammate

Lucho González Luis Óscar "Lucho" González (; born 19 January 1981) is an Argentine former professional Association football, footballer, currently a Manager (association football), manager. A versatile midfielder who was able to play in different positions ...

. He was selected as the best player in the tournament by Argentine sports daily ''

Olé ¡Ole! or ¡olé! is a Spanish interjection used to cheer on or praise a performance, especially associated with the audience of bullfighting and flamenco dance. The word is also commonly used in many other contexts in Spain, and has become close ...

'' and was a key player in Huracán's championship bid, which was thwarted by

Vélez Sarsfield Velez may refer to: People * Vélez (name), a Spanish surname, including a list of people with the name Places * Vélez de Benaudalla, Spain * Vélez Sársfield (barrio), Buenos Aires, Argentina * Vélez-Blanco, Spain * Vélez-Málaga, Spain * Vé ...

in the last match. In July 2009, Porto sold all its economic rights in Bolatti (60%) to Natland Financieringsmaatschappij B.V. in order to acquire

Radamel Falcao Radamel Falcao García Zárate (born 10 February 1986) is a Colombian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a striker (association football), striker for Categoría Primera A club Millonarios F.C., Millonarios. Nicknamed "El ...

's remaining registration rights from the Dutch company. Both economic rights were valued at €1.5 million, making Bolatti's transfer value at that time worth €2.5 million in total. Porto later retained 20% of his economic rights and received €1 million only from Natland. The retained 20% economic rights were "worth" €232,360 in accounting (as a financial asset instead of

intangible asset An intangible asset is an asset that lacks physical substance. Examples are patents, copyright, exclusive franchises, Goodwill (accounting), goodwill, trademarks, and trade names, reputation, Research and development, R&D, Procedural knowledge, ...

, latter "weathered" by time), the portion of the residual (un-amortized) value of the acquisition costs that Porto paid in 2007. Porto retained the economic rights and the non-dividable registration rights to make Porto the entity to receive transfer fee for Natland and arrange a loan deal for the company. In the interim, Bolatti remained with Huracán for the 2009 Torneo Apertura. On 18 January 2010, Bolatti was transferred to Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

for €3.5 million.ACF Fiorentina Report and Accounts on 31 December 2010 Porto received €500,000 for its 20% portion, but using the previous "market" value of €2.5 million as calculation. On 6 February 2011, Bolatti joined Brazilian Série A club Internacional for €4.5 million. Two years later, and after receiving limited playing time during the previous season, Bolatti signed with Argentine side Racing Club on a six-month loan.

International career

On 14 October 2009 in

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, Uruguay, after coming on as a substitute, Bolatti scored the crucial goal in the 84th minute of the game which ensured Argentina's qualification to the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

. He was later named to Argentina's final 23-man squad by manager

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona Franco (30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional association football, football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two ...

for the tournament's final stages, in South Africa.

After retirement

In March 2021, Bolatti was hired as a technical secretary at his former club

International goals

, - , 1, , 14 October 2009, ,

, Uruguay, , , , 1–0, , 1–0, ,

2010 World Cup qualification 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Honours

Porto *

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

(1): 2007–08 *

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

(1): 2008–09 Internacional *

Campeonato Gaúcho The Campeonato Gaúcho (English: Gaúcho Championship), officially named as Campeonato Gaúcho de Futebol Série A and commonly known as the Gauchão or the Gauchão Ipiranga (company), Ipiranga for sponsorship reasons, is the top-flight profess ...

(2):

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Recopa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana (), also known as Recopa Sudamericana or CONMEBOL Recopa, and simply as Recopa (, ; "Winners' Cup"), is an annual international club Association football, football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1988. It ...

(1):

References

External links

Profile on Fiorentina official site – Violachannel.tvGuardian statistics

BDFA profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bolatti, Mario Ariel 1985 births Living people Footballers from Córdoba Province, Argentina Men's association football midfielders Argentine men's footballers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Club Atlético Belgrano footballers FC Porto players Club Atlético Huracán footballers ACF Fiorentina players SC Internacional players Racing Club de Avellaneda footballers Botafogo FR players Argentina men's international footballers Argentine Primera División players Primeira Liga players Serie A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Expatriate men's footballers in Brazil Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal 2010 FIFA World Cup players Italian sportspeople of Argentine descent Argentine sportspeople of Italian descent Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Brazil 21st-century Argentine sportsmen