Osvaldo, ex-FC Porto, in intensive care with a reserved prognosis

Daniel Osvaldo gave, at the end of Friday night, entrance to a public hospital located in Llavallol, in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires, after being found unconscious, in the house itself, in Banfield, by the sister, according to information advanced by the program LAM, issued by television station América TV.

The former Italian international has suffered a pleural effusion (i.e. an abnormal accumulation of fluid in the lungs), so it was transported urgently to the hospital where it underwent surgical intervention and then placed in an intensive care unit, in which it remains, with a reserved prognosis.

The journalist Ángel de Brito, who gave the news in the first hand, revealed that a “resection of the lung tissue” was performed to the ex-advanced, currently at 40 years of age, which resulted in the extraction of “two centimeters from each lung”, and it is expected that, in the next few hours, news will emerge regarding its clinical status.

Born in Buenos Aires, Dani Osvaldo completed training at the Huracán, club for which he debuted, in the main team, in 2005, when he was only 19 years old, giving such a view, with 11 goals marked after 33 official matches, which, less than a year later, gave the ‘jump’ to European football, by the ‘door’ of Atalanta.

A loan to Lecce followed, after which it was sold to Fiorentina for EUR 3 million and then to Bologna for more than twice that amount. In 2010, he moved to Espanyol, first, by loan, and then, finally, around EUR 5 million, which he justified by marking 22 goals in 47 matches.

There were passages by AS Roma (for EUR 16 million), Southampton (for EUR 15 million), Juventus, Internazionale and Boca Juniors (always by loan), until in 2015, he concluded a contract and went to FC Porto, where he was not at all happy, so that it was used on only 12 occasions, with a goal and assistance in the middle.

In fact, in January, he even terminated the contract with the blue and white emblem, to return to Argentina, where he once again committed himself to Boca Juniors and Banfield, a club in which he would put an end to his career in 2020, at the age of 34.

“Depression” led Osvaldo to the “vicians”

Daniel Osvaldo would again speak in 2024 when he published an extensive video on social media, in which he asked for “help” to turn around the problems that tormented him: “I’ve been fighting a very big depression for a long time. This depression made me fall into some vices, with alcohol and drugs. The truth is that I am at a moment when my life is slipping out of my hands”.

The former Italian international said he was “in psychiatric treatment, taking medication” for “a very specific disease”, and he confessed: “By disgust, I fell into self - destruction, and it affects the people around me. I live practically alone, closed, at home. I don't go anywhere, I don't do anything productive in life. Sometimes I don’t even want to get out of bed or go to the bathroom”.

“The only way I have to get out is for people to know what I’m going through. I fell into very ugly vices, which worsened my depression. This got me away from people I care about and who really like me. I don’t want to see the family, to be with my children...”, he concluded, with tears in his eyes.