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

Mark the name Francesco Pio Esposito, Inter’s new striker. If you haven’t heard of him before, he scored the opening goal of Inter’s 2-0 win against River Plate, bringing Inter to the round of 16 at the FIFA Club World Cup on Wednesday. Esposito grew up in the youth setup of the Italian giants, developing with them from when he was eight years old until 2023, and he’s already worked with Inter’s new coach Cristian Chivu. He then moved to Spezia on loan for the 2023-24 and the 2024-25 seasons where he showed all his potential. Over two years he scored 22 goals in 79 games, and this is why Inter always had the eyes on bringing him back at some point, viewing him as a potential star in the future.

Born in 2005, Pio Esposito is about to turn 20, and after scoring the goal against River Plate, he’s showing that the future may be now in his first game with the club he grew up with. 

Esposito is the youngest of three brothers, and all of them 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 2025 and Salvatore is currently playing for Spezia, Pio’s future is still uncertain. After coming back from his loan spell at Spezia, there were some rumours he might join a Serie A team in the upcoming 2025-26 season to play more and have some regular game time, but the goal against River Plate can change a lot of things in his short-term future at the club. 

And Chivu knows him more than any other manager, with the former 2010 Champions League winner taking charge of the Italian giants to replace Simone Inzaghi, Pio Esposito can find his space also in the current roster, even if Inter are likely to add at least another number nine after the departures of both Joaquin Correa and Marko Arnautovic, with the future of Mehdi Taremi still in doubt as things stand. 

The two main strikers of the team are still team captain Lautaro Martinez and French striker Marcus Thuram, and the current Parma striker Ange-Yoan Bonny is reportedly set to join the Nerazzurri as a backup option in the attack alongside Taremi, if he stays. Over the last years, Inter lacked strong options when one of the two starting strikers were not playing, and this is why Pio Esposito might become an unexpected option to solve that issue. 

Now the pressure will be on him, and time will tell if he will be able to keep the level of his game at the highest standards, as he did perfectly against River Plate. He impressed many, not only for the goal scored that showed how talented he is, but also for the way he protected the ball and worked for the team during the whole match, until his brother Sebastiano replaced him at the 83rd minute of the game. Pio Esposito showed his talent, as he did at Spezia, but the question was mainly if he could replicate that at Inter, and so far he has. The Nerazzurri’s management and coach Chivu will now have to make a tough decision about his future. Should he leave on loan to increase his experience before coming back, or is it already the time to test him at the highest level with all the pressure on his shoulders? Looking at his first games at the club, Esposito looks ready to stay.