Andrea Silenzi

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Andrea Silenzi
Personal information
Date of birth February 10, 1966 (1966-02-10) (age 42)
Place of birth    Rome, Italy
Height 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Playing position Striker
Youth clubs
Lodigiani
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1984–1987
1987–1988
1988–1990
1990–1992
1992–1995
1995–1997
1996–1997
1997–1998
1998–1999
1999–2000
2000–2001		 Lodigiani
Arezzo
Reggiana
Napoli
Torino
Nottingham Forest
→Venezia (loan)
Reggiana
Ravenna
Torino
Ravenna		 49 (18)
19 (0)
67 (32)
39 (6)
82 (24)
12 (0)
26 (4)
8 (0)
23 (3)
11 (2)
7 (0)   
National team
1994 Italy 1 (0)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Andrea Silenzi (born 10 February 1966 in Rome) is a former Italian footballer. He is known for his height and goal-poaching ability, as well as his inconsistent performances. He scored 89 league goals over the span of his career and was a Serie B top-scorer. He also won the Coppa Italia, and the Italian Super Cup. The greatest years in his playing career were 1989, 1990 and 1994, with Reggiana, Napoli and Torino respectively. He was also the first Italian football player to play in the English Premier League.

Contents

[edit] Career

[edit] Club

Nicknamed, “Pennellone” (Big Brush), due to his height, Silenzi began his playing career with his local Rome club Lodigiani. During his third season there he started scoring goals, and finished as second top scorer, with 18 goals, in Serie C2. In the next season he moved to Serie B, to play with Arezzo. That season was a disaster for Arezzo and for Silenzi. The club finishing dead last, and was relegated to Serie C1. Silenzi played 19 games that season and failed to score a single goal. He was transferred to another Serie C1 club, Reggiana for the following, 1988/89 season. There his fortunes had changed dramatically. The club won promotion to Serie B that year, finishing in first place, with Slienzi contributing 9 goals in 31 appearances. The next season (1989/90) Silenzi did even better, finishing the season as top scorer in Serie B. He also had the best goal-per-match ratio in Serie B: 23 goals in 38 matches. He also scored 23 of the 33 goals the club would score that season. His prolific scoring garnered the attention of the scudetto and Coppa Italia winners, Napoli, who were looking to strengthen their attack options alongside the great Diego Maradona. The 1990/91 season started brightly, with Napoli capturing the Italian Super Cup– a 5-1 thrashing of Juventus, with Silenzi contributing 2 of the five goals. However, the rest of that season proved unlucky for Silenzi, as he managed to score only 2 league goals. The club finished that season in a lowly 8th place, with Maradona only managing 6 goals (all on penalties). The next season (1991/92) Silenzi did better, but still only managed 4 goals in 20 appearances. Napoli finished in a respectable 4th place, mainly due to the scoring power of Careca and Gianfranco Zola, who had taken over for the banned Maradona.

The next season, (1992/93), Silenzi, aged 26, would be drafted into the Torino system, brought in with some of the funds that Torino made on the, then world-record, sale of Gianluigi Lentini to AC Milan. That season Torino finished in 9th place, with Silenzi again grabbing only a handful of league goals (3). The only bright spot of that season for Torino was the capture of Torino's fourth Coppa Italia. Silenzi endeared himself to the Torino fans by his display in the final. Torino beat Roma in a two legged final on an away-goals rule; the aggregate score being 5-5. Silenzi scored both of the crucial, away goals for Torino, in the second leg loss in Rome, (2-5); the first leg was won by Torino 3-0. The following season (1993/94) was Silenzi's best in the top flight. He finished the season with 17 goals, (tied for 3rd in the top scorers list), and the club managed to get to the semi-final of the Copa Italia. That season he was spearheading the attaching trio of Enzo Francescoli and the young Benito Carbone. His impressive form garnered him a call-up to the National side for a friendly game against France. The next season saw the arrival of Ruggiero Rizzitelli at Torino, and taking over the leading goal-scoring spot from Silenzi. Rizzitelli went on to score 19 goals to Silenzi's 4 that season. Such poor form probably made the offer for Silenzi from Nottingham Forest easier to accept for the Torino management.

In the summer of 1995, Silenzi was signed by Nottingham Forest's manager Frank Clark for £1.8m, becoming the first ever Italian to play in the English Premier League. But he never fitted into the set-up at the City Ground, making 10 Premier League appearances in the 1995-96 season and failing to score a single goal. After only two games of the 1996-97 season he was loaned out to Venezia. In total he went on to make only 20 appearances (7 starts) for Forest, and scored only two goals: one in the FA Cup and one in the Coca-Cola Cup. It is alleged that his contract was torn up by Dave Bassett, for allegedly refusing to return from his loan spell at Venezia.[1] In the English press he is considered as one of the worst ever signings by an English club.[2] His failure at City Ground reportedly cost the club nearly £3million.

He continued his playing career with various clubs back in Italy; going on to play for Reggiana and Ravenna for a season each, and returning to Torino for a solitary season. His two goals in 11 games was too little to save Emiliano Mondonico's Torino from relegation from Serie A that season. He finished his playing career in 2001, at Ravenna– playing 7 games and not scoring a goal in the 2000/01 season in Serie B.

[edit] International career

Silenzi's only international cap for Italy came in 1994. He played against France in February 1994 as part of the warm-up process for the World Cup being held that summer. Italy lost that game 1-0, with Silenzi coming on as a second-half substitute.

[edit] Family

Silenzi has two children, Valentina and Christian, with his wife Enrica. Andrea is now an architect[citation needed] and has named his villa in North Rome, Villa Enrica, in honor of his wife.

[edit] Honors

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Patrick Johnston. Signing Serie A strikers a dangerous gamel. article from Reuters blog. Retrieved on September 10, 2007.
  2. ^ David Hills. The 10 worst foreign signings of all time. article from Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved on September 10, 2007.
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