Levan Mchedlidze

Levan Mchedlidze

Personal information
Date of birth	(1990-03-24) 24 March 1990
Place of birth	Tbilisi, Georgia
Height	1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing position	Striker, Winger
Club information
Current club	Empoli
Number	19
Youth career
2005–2006	FC Dila Gori
2006–2007	Empoli
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2005–2006	FC Dila Gori	2	(0)
2007–	Empoli	72	(5)
2008–2010	→ Palermo (loan)	11	(1)
National team‡
2005–2006	Georgia U-17	8	(3)
2006–2007	Georgia U-19	8	(1)
2011	Georgia U-21	3	(0)
2007–	Georgia	20	(2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15 June 2013. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 15 June 2013

Levan Mchedlidze (Georgian: ლევან მჭედლიძე, [lɛvan mt͡ʃʼɛdlid͡zɛ]; born 24 March 1990 in Tbilisi) is a Georgian professional football player who is currently playing with Italian club Empoli.

Career

Originally noted in the spring of 2006 by Empoli scout Gianni Carnevali, he joined the Tuscan side on September 2006, following his impressive performances with the Georgia under-19 national team in a youth competition in Belgium, and despite some interest from FC Bayern Munich. He was officially signed only one year later, on July 2007, due to bureaucratic issues concerning his non-EU citizen status.^[1]

Following Empoli's relegation into Serie B, Mchedlidze's future was put under discussion. On 30 August 2008, Serie A club Palermo announced on their website to have signed Mchedlidze on a year-long loan, with the option to make the deal permanent at the end of the season.^[2] Later, Palermo chairman Maurizio Zamparini announced to have paid €6.2 mln for the signing of the young Georgian striker,;^[3] the club also confirmed the bid to be an actual permanent move, as a technical year-long loan that will be made permanent at the end of the 2008–09 season.^[4]

Mchedlidze made his Serie A debut on 24 September 2008, playing fifteen minutes in a league game against Napoli,^[5] then scoring his first professional goal only a few weeks later, in what ultimately proved to be the winning goal in a surprising 2–1 away win against Juventus.

Also due to his recurrent injuries which prevented him from playing regularly in his first season, Palermo agreed a one-year extension to his loan with Empoli on June 2009. On December 2009, after a lacklustre start of season, Mchedlidze did not return to Sicily from holidays in Georgia, citing lack of first team chances as the main reason behind his choice. The player was successively excluded from the first team and Palermo director of football Walter Sabatini successively confirmed the club will not arrange a deal for him. As of March 2010, the player has not returned to Sicily and his loan to Palermo was subsequently cancelled due to breach of contract.^[6]

International

Despite having never played in his team also because of a knee injury during pre-season training, he was capped for the Georgia national football team at the age of 17, for the Euro 2008 qualifying match against Italy.^[7] In spite of his young age, the coach Klaus Toppmöller made him play against the World Champions.

In the following match, Mchedlidze, being featured together with two other teenage team-mates (Levan Kenia and Giorgi Makaridze in the starting lineup),^[8] scored the first goal in the 2–0 victory against Scotland, thus marking the first goal of his professional career.^[9]

Career statistics

As of 15 June 2013

References

External links

• Levan Mchedlidze at National-Football-Teams.com
• Levan Mchedlidze – FIFA competition record