Giovinco with Italy in 2009 |
|||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 26 January 1987 | ||
| Place of birth | Turin, Italy | ||
| Height | 1.64 m (5 ft 4 1⁄2 in) | ||
| Playing position | Second striker | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Parma | ||
| Number | 10 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1996–2007 | Juventus | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2006–2011 | Juventus | 32 | (5) |
| 2007–2008 | → Empoli (loan) | 35 | (6) |
| 2010–2011 | → Parma (loan) | 30 | (7) |
| 2011– | Parma | 14 | (7) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2007–2009 | Italy U-21 | 20 | (1) |
| 2008 | Italy Olympic | 10 | (3) |
| 2011– | Italy | 6 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21 December 2011. † Appearances (Goals). |
|||
Sebastian Giovinco (Italian pronunciation: [se'bastjan dʒo'vinko]; born January 26, 1987 in Turin) is an Italian footballer who plays for Serie A club Parma and the Italian national team. Giovinco is an second striker with noted dribbling skills, play-making skills and he is known for his freekicks.[1][2]
Due to his short stature and his technical skills, Giovinco acquired the nickname formica atomica (atom ant, after the eponymous Hanna-Barbera character).[3]
Contents |
Giovinco was born in Turin to a Sicilian father and a Calabrian mother who were immigrants from southern Italy.[4] He grew up in Beinasco, a comune southwest of Turin, in a family of Milan fans and joined the Juventus youth system when he was nine.[5] He then rose through the ranks of the club and impressed especially during the 2005–06 season, winning the Campionato Primavera and reaching the final at the Viareggio Tournament.[6] His younger brother Giuseppe was also part of the Juventus youth team until 2010, and is now playing for Lega Pro Prima Divisione club Carrarese.[7]
Giovinco was promoted to the first team during the 2006–07 season and also played his last season in the Primavera squad. His debut came on May 12, 2007 in the Serie B match against Bologna, entering in as a substitute in place of Raffaele Palladino. He marked his debut with a splendid assist for David Trezeguet's tap-in. Since then, he had been tipped to be Alessandro Del Piero's heir in the trequartista role.[8][9]
On July 4, 2007 he was loaned out to Empoli with his good friend and teammate Claudio Marchisio. Giovinco made his European debut in the UEFA Cup in September and scored his first Serie A goal on September 30, 2007 when Empoli beat Palermo 3–1. He caused large media interest when he scored his second goal, a free kick, on November 4, an equalizer against Roma, which was compared by some pundits to Ronaldinho's which knocked England out of the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Unfortunately Empoli were unable to avoid relegation and he was recalled to Turin in June.
In June 2008, Giovinco and Claudio Marchisio both returned to Juventus after enjoying a successful spell in Tuscany. Giovinco played his first match for Juventus on September 24, 2008 against Catania. He substituted Pavel Nedvěd late in second half, and made an immediate impact, assisting Amauri to score the only goal of the match. On December 7, 2008 he scored his first goal for Juventus, a free kick against Lecce in a 2–1 win.[10] In October 2008, he signed a contract extension, tying him to Juventus until the summer of 2013.[5] He ended the season with 3 goals in all competitions, including a volley against Bologna where he turned in a man-of-the-match performance as Juventus won 4–1.
Despite a bright start, Giovinco did not play regularly and made sporadic appearances throughout the season both in the starting eleven and off the bench as he struggled to fit into Ranieri's preferred 4–4–2 formation. The signing of Diego in the 2009 summer transfer window confined him to the bench but new manager Ciro Ferrara confirmed that the youngster will be back-up to the Brazilian international. When Ferrara was forced into a tactical switch due to injuries to first choice midfielders Mauro Camoranesi and Marchisio during various times, Giovinco was drafted into the starting line-up and helped Juve to a 5–1 hammering of Sampdoria in only his fourth start of the season.[11] Under Ferrara's successor Alberto Zaccheroni, he hardly featured at all due to the changes in formation and his position was taken by young midfielder Antonio Candreva, a winter loan signing from Udinese. In April, he sustained a training ground injury and was ruled out for the rest of the season after undergoing tests.[12]
On August 2010, Parma F.C. announced the signing of Giovinco on loan from Juventus, with an option to buy 50% of the player's transfer rights at the end of the season.[13][14] He scored his first goal for Parma on September 12, 2010, a free kick in a 2-1 loss to Catania. On January 6, 2011, Giovinco while on loan scored two goals for Parma in a 1-4 win against his parent club Juventus. Towards the end of the season, he again scored to contribute to a victory over his permanent club. At the end of the season, Parma exercised the option to buy 50% of his contract after a very promising debut season, which elevated Giovinco to the national representation and a chance of Euro 2012 involvement.[15]
Giovinco has represented Italy at every youth level from the U-16 level onwards. He was called up to Italy U-21 by head coach Pierluigi Casiraghi to make his U-21 debut in the 2009 European Championship opening qualifier on June 1, 2007 and was instrumental in their 4–0 thrashing of Albania.[16]
He also starred at the 2008 Toulon Tournament, where he was voted most valuable player, scoring two goals in the opening game against the Ivory Coast,[17] and netting the winning penalty in the semifinal match against Japan.[18] Italy ultimately won the competition, defeating Chile 1–0 in the final. That summer, he and Juventus teammates Claudio Marchisio and Paolo De Ceglie were named in the squad for the 2008 Olympics.[19] He scored the first goal in a 3–0 win against Honduras in the first match of the competition where he struck the ball from outside of the box with his weaker left foot and also impressed in the match against South Korea. Unfortunately his strong performances could not prevent the Azzurrini from losing 3–2 in a hard-fought quarterfinal against Belgium.
In the summer of 2009, Giovinco was called-up the U-21 side for the European Championships in Sweden after playing a part in their successful qualifying campaign. He formed partnerships with Robert Acquafresca and Mario Balotelli in an impressive three-pronged attack. Giovinco started in every single match at the tournament but Italy lost to eventual winners Germany 1–0 in a tightly contested semifinal.
With Juventus enduring a difficult season, his international career stagnated. He was called up for the first time in nearly two years after some good performances while on loan at Parma and made his senior team debut on 9 February 2011, in the friendly game played against Germany in Dortmund. After some promising substitute appearances, manager Cesare Prandelli stated that he will give Giovinco his full debut as a starter alongside Antonio Cassano.[20]
| Club | League | Season | League | Cup | Europe | Other | Total | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Assists | Apps | Goals | Assists | Apps | Goals | Assists | Apps | Goals | Assists | Apps | Goals | Assists | |||
| Juventus | Serie B | 2006–07 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Empoli (loan) | Serie A | 2007–08 | 35 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 6 | 4 |
| Juventus | Serie A | 2008–09 | 19 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 3 | 8 |
| 2009–10 | 15 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Juventus Total | 37 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 48 | 4 | 9 | ||
| Parma (loan) | Serie A | 2010–11 | 30 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 7 | 6 |
| Parma | 2011–12 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 7 | 3 | |
| Parma Total | 38 | 13 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 41 | 14 | 9 | ||
| Career Total | 110 | 22 | 20 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 126 | 24 | 22 | ||
| Italy national team | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Apps | Goals |
| 2011 | 4 | 0 |
| Total | 4 | 0 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||