Who is Francesco Pio Esposito? Inter’s new teenage wonderkid scored a decisive goal against River Plate

Mark the name Francesco Pio Esposito, the new striker of Inter. If you’ve never heard of him, he scored the opening goal of Inter’s 2-0 victory against River Plate, which brought Inter on Wednesday to the FIFA Club World Cup. Esposito grew up in the youth setup of the Italian giants and developed with them when he was eight years old until 2023, and he has already worked with Inter’s new coach Cristian Chivu. He then moved to Spezia on loan for the 2023-24 seasons and the 2024-25 seasons where he showed all his potential. For more than two years he scored 22 goals in 79 games, and this is why Inter always had the eyes to bring him back at some point and see him as a potential star in the future.

Pio Esposito, born in 2005, is about to become 20, and after scoring the goal against River Plate, he shows that the future is now in his first game with the club with which he grew up.

Esposito is the youngest of three brothers, and they all grew up at Inter. While Sebastiano, who also played for Inter from 2019 to 2020 under Antonio Conte and in the current FIFA Club World Cup, is expected to leave the Nerazzurri in the summer of 2025 and Salvatore is currently playing for Spezia, the future of PIO is still uncertain. After he returned from his loan period at Spezia, there were some rumors that he could join a Serie A-team in the coming season 2025-26 to play more and to have some regular playing time, but the goal against River Plate can change many things in his future in the short term at the club.

And Chivu knows him more than any other manager, in which the former winner of the Champions League 2010 takes the lead over the Italian giants to replace Simone Inzaghi, Pio Esposito can also find his space in the current schedule, even and probably adds at least another number nine after the future of the future of the future of ME Correa.

The two most important strikers of the team are still team captain Lautaro Martinez and the French striker Marcus Thuram, and the current Parma striker Ange-Yoan Bonny is reportedly ready to join the Nerazzurri as a backup option in the attack alongside Taremi, if he stays. In recent years, Inter strong options were missing when one of the two starting strikers did not play, and this is why Pio Esposito could become an unexpected option to solve that problem.

Now the pressure will be on him, and time will learn whether he can keep the level of his game according to the highest standards, as he did perfectly against the river plate. He impressed many, not only for the goal that showed how talented he is, but also for the way he protected the ball and worked for the team during the entire game, until his brother Sebastiano replaced him on the 83rd minute of the game. Pio Esposito showed his talent, as he did at Spezia, but the question was especially if he could replicate that at Inter, and so far he has that. The management and coach of the Nerazzurri will now have to make a difficult decision about his future. Does he have to leave loan to increase his experience before he returns, or is it the time to test him at the highest level with all the pressure on his shoulders? Looking at his first games in the club, ESPosito seems ready to stay.