10 things you need to know about Salvador Cabanas

By Mirror Football in Football Spy

Published 11:49 11/01/10

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Sunderland boss Steve Bruce is desperate to bring in another striker to take some of the goal-scoring burden off Darren Bent, but with German hitman Kevin Kuranyi dragging his heels over over a move from Schalke, could Club America forward Salvador Cabanas be heading to Wearside?

Here's everything you need to know about the prolific Paraguayan poacher.

1) Salvador Cabañas Ortega was born on August 5, 1980 in Paraguayan capital Ascunsion. He wears the Number 10 and can play as a striker or a winger.

2) He started his career at Paraguayan club 12 de Octubre where he scored an impressive 17 goals in his first season.

3) After a brief loan spell at another Paraguayan Club Guarani, he moved to Chilean side Audax Italiano in 2001 and continued his healthy scoring record, notching up 29 goals in just 53 league appearances.

4) His good form soon earned him a move to the Mexican league with a club that was less than a year old at the time: Chiapas, nicknamed the Jaguares, in 2003. He kept up his goal ratio of better than a goal every other game with 59 strikes in 103 games. "Clubs sign me to score goals, and that's what I try to do," he says.

5) By 2006 he was the top marksman in the Mexican league and the big time came-a-calling when Club America - one of the biggest clubs in Mexico, and one of the richest outside Europe - snapped him up.

6) In 2007 he really came of age as a top goal-getter in a top team, notching up 33 strikes as Club America's top scorer - a tally that made him the world's second highest club level scorer. His form that year won him the Paraguayan Footballer of the Year and South American Footballer of the Year awards. "This prize is for all those who helped me in one form or another to score my goals," he said at the time. He was also the Copa Libertadores top scorer with 10 goals.

7) Alicio Solalinde, his coach at 12 de Octubre, spotted his potential early on and recommended him to the national team bosses. They listened and selected him to play in the FIFA World Youth Championship in 1999.

8) It would be 2004 before he earned a call up to the full international side, and he played in several of Paraguay's qualifiers for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Sadly he never made it on to the pitch at the finals themselves.

9) He forced his way into the Paraguay first team in 2007 after scoring three goals from the subs bench in two games against Columbia and the USA in the Copa America, and since then he has been a key member of the side, scoring many of the goals that helped them qualify for the 2010 tournament. He says his goals in life are: "To continue to do my bit to help America and Paraguay win games. Oh, and to play in a World Cup, of course."

10) He is described by FIFA as having: "excellent heading, accurate shooting with either foot, and that rare blend of technique, power and positional sense." And just to prove the point here is a compilation of his 10 best goals.