Mauricio Ricardo Taricco (born 10 March 1973) is an Argentine football coach and former professional footballer who is assistant coach at French side Bordeaux. Taricco, whose father was Italian and hailed from Sardinia, was as a full-back capable of playing as right or left back who initially played from 1993 to 2004. He began his career in his native Argentina for Argentinos Juniors before transferring to England where he spent the next 10 years representing Ipswich Town, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United. He suffered a hamstring injury on his debut for West Ham and agreed to cancel his contract after the game, retiring from professional football. He later playing for lower league Italian side A.S. Villasimius and Castiadas before later joining Brighton & Hove Albion as an assistant manager to Gus Poyet in 2009. He also resumed his professional football career in the 2010–11 season before retiring for the second time at the end of the 2012–13 season. He would go on to follow Poyet to Sunderland, AEK Athens, Real Betis, Shanghai Shenhua and Bordeaux during the following seasons. Playing career Argentinos Juniors Taricco began his football career at Buenos Aires club Argentinos Juniors, coming through the club's famous youth team to make his first team debut in 1993. After only one season in the first team, he moved to English side Ipswich Town. Ipswich Town In September 1994, Taricco joined Ipswich Town for around £150,000 after then Ipswich Town manager John Lyall looked for new players in South America. He was signed alongside Uruguayan Adrián Paz, who played at Estudiantes de La Plata. Both were represented by FIFA agent, Marcelo Houseman, brother of 1978 FIFA World Cup champion René Houseman. Taricco made his debut in a League Cup match which ended as a 3–0 home loss against Bolton Wanderers, playing the whole match in his sole appearance of the season, which saw Ipswich Town relegated from Premier League. On 26 August 1995, Taricco played his first league match under manager George Burley, who replace Lyall midway in the previous season. The match against West Bromwich Albion ended 0–0. He quickly made an impression as a solid defender blessed with immaculate passing ability and considerable attacking flair, and he went on to make 47 appearances that season. Early in the 1996–97 season, Taricco scored his first goal for Ipswich Town in a 5–2 win over Reading. and his second