Andrea Belotti

Andrea Belotti
Personal information
Full name Andrea Belotti
Date of birth (1993-12-20) 20 December 1993
Place of birth Calcinate, Italy
Height 1.81 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
Playing position Striker
Club information
Current team
 Torino
Number 9
Youth career
2003–2006 Grumellese
2006–2012 AlbinoLeffe
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
2012–2014 AlbinoLeffe 37 (14)
2013–2015 Palermo 62 (16)
2015– Torino 20 (6)
National team‡
2011–2012 Italy U19 6 (2)
2012–2013 Italy U20 9 (4)
2013–2015 Italy U21 18 (9)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 3 February 2016.
† Appearances (goals)

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 24 June 2015

Andrea Belotti (born 20 December 1993) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Torino.

Considered one of the emerging talents of Italian football,[1][2][3] he is nicknamed Gallo,[4][5] the nickname of his childhood friend who playfully suggested he celebrate every goal scored by mimicking a rooster's comb with an open hand on his forehead.[6][7]

Club career

AlbinoLeffe

Born in Calcinate, Province of Bergamo, Lombardy, Belotti started his career at the second largest team of the province, then-Serie B club AlbinoLeffe. A youth team player since 2010, Belotti made his first team debut on 10 March 2012 (league week 30). He then played a successive substitute appearances from rounds 32 to 34 and started 4 games from rounds 35 to 39, only missing round 37.[8] He also scored 13 goals as team top-scorer for the youth team throughout the 2011–12 season, also winning a youth title, Trofeo Dossena, in June 2012.[9]

AlbinoLeffe were relegated at the end of season, and played the 2012–13 season in Lega Pro Prima Divisione, with Belotti as the starting striker of the club. Belotti played his first senior match of the season during the 2012–13 Coppa Italia, partnering Simone Pontiggia and Karamoko Cissé.[10] The club lost 0–3 to Chieti.

Palermo

He completed the season with 14 goals, and gained interest from higher-level teams; in August 2013, recently relegated Serie B club Palermo agreed a loan bid with AlbinoLeffe, with an option to turn the move into a co-ownership by the end of the season. Belotti made his debut with the Sicilians on 24 September 2013, as a substitute for Davide Di Gennaro in a game against Bari, and immediately provided an assist to Kyle Lafferty in a 1–2 loss. In his second game of the season, against Brescia, he was again used during the game and scored the equaliser (match ended in a 1–1 draw).

On July 2014, Palermo announced to have executed the option to acquire 50% of Belotti's transfer right from AlbinoLeffe, effectively turning the loan move to a co-ownership.[11] Later on September 2014, Palermo reached an agreement with AlbinoLeffe for the remaining half, thus fully acquiring him for good.[12] He made his first Serie A goals on 24 September 2014, scoring twice and providing a man-of-the-match performance in a 3–3 away draw against Napoli.

Torino

On 18 August 2015 he was officially signed by Torino[13] for a fee of €7.5 million. On 28 November he scored his first goal in Serie A for Torino in a 2–0 win against Bologna. On 16 January, 2016, he scored his first brace for Torino in a 4–2 win over Frosinone. He returned to the scoresheet on 20 January, opening the score in a 1–1 draw away to Sassuolo;[14] then on 3 February, scoring a brace away to Sampdoria (2–2).[15]

International career

He received his first call-up to the Italy under-19 in December 2011 against the Lega Pro representatives squad; scoring a goal in the match, won 4–2.[16][17] In the 2012 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship elite qualification round he featured as Italy's centre-forward in the 4–2–3–1 formation,[18] scoring once in three appearances.[19]

He made nine appearance for the under-20 (scoring four goals), before making his debut for the under-21 team on 14 August 2013 in a friendly match won 4–1 against Slovakia. On 5 September he featured in the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification lost 3–1 at home to Belgium, scoring his first goal in the group on 14 November in a 3–0 win against Northern Ireland. On 5 September 2014 he scored his first brace for the team against Serbia, in the match won 3–2, valid for the European Championship qualifiers.

He took part in the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in the Czech Republic, scoring the opening goal in a 3–1 defeat of England.

Style of play

Early in his career he played as a midfielder and winger,[20] but under the intuition of Albinoleffe's Primavera coach, Alessio Pala, he was converted to a forward.[21] He prefers to play as a second striker, but can play anywhere across the front line. Emiliano Mondonico, the manager of the Albinoleffe first team when Belotti played in the youth team described him as "a player of the highest level [...] I saw him play and I realised that he was a talent. He is a muscly forward, full of quality. I would call him an old-fashioned center-forward. He has movement and matches this aspect with great wickedness in front of goal. [...] He has to play in front of the goal, as the centre-forward. He can play in all of the roles in attack, a winger, the second striker, but I think he has to play as the striker to take full advantage of his certain characteristics and his eye for goal." He has also been compared to Roberto Boninsegna and Gianluca Vialli.[22] Belotti's coach in the Italy under-20, Alberigo Evani, said "there are few like him. He does double duty: he is the first defender for the team, making an important contribution."[23]

Career statistics

Club

As of 18 August 2015[24]
Club Season League Cup Europe Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
AlbinoLeffe 2011–12Serie B8200——82
2012–13 Lega Pro Seconda Divisione301210——3112
2013–14—10——10
Total 381420——4014
Palermo 2013–14Serie B241000——2410
2014–15Serie A38610——396
2015–16Serie A—10——10
Total 621610——6316
Career total 1003030——10330

    Honours

    Club

    Palermo

    References

    1. ↑ http://www.generazioneditalenti.it/andrea-belotti-1993-italia/
    2. ↑ http://calciatoriditalento.blogspot.it/2013/04/andrea-belotti.html
    3. ↑ http://www.goal.com/it/news/3785/generazione-di-fenomeni/2013/10/12/4320057/generazione-di-fenomeni-andrea-belotti-da-bergamo-a-palermo
    4. ↑ E il gallo cantò due volte. Palermo-Novara 2-1 Palermocalcio.it
    5. ↑ Tutti ai piedi del 'Gallo'. Il futuro è già qui Livesicilia.it
    6. ↑ Gallo, parla l'ispiratore dell'esultanza di Belotti: "Andrea un vero amico, la sua forza è l'umiltà. Palermo lo incanta, può fare 15 gol" Palermo24.net
    7. ↑ Zamparini, 500 partite in rosa. Belotti stappa lo champagne Linksicilia.it
    8. ↑ http://www.albinoleffe.com/component/campionato1112/?task=giocatore&giocatore=11381
    9. ↑ "Il trofeo Dossena è dell'AlbinoLeffe!" (in Italian). UC AlbinoLeffe. 16 June 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
    10. ↑ "AlbinoLeffe sconfitto all'esordio in Coppa Italia" (in Italian). UC AlbinoLeffe. 6 August 2012. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
    11. ↑ "ACQUISTATA LA METÀ DI BELOTTI" (in Italian). US Città di Palermo. 19 June 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
    12. ↑ "RISCATTATA LA SECONDA META' DI BELOTTI "RINGRAZIO LA SOCIETA' PER LA FIDUCIA"" (in Italian). US Città di Palermo. 12 September 2014. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
    13. ↑ "Belotti al Toro". torinofc.it. Torino Football Club. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
    14. ↑ http://au.soccerway.com/matches/2016/01/20/italy/serie-a/us-sassuolo-calcio/torino-fc/2120534/
    15. ↑ http://au.soccerway.com/matches/2016/02/03/italy/serie-a/uc-sampdoria/torino-fc/2120604/
    16. ↑ "GOALS AND GOOD PLAY BY THE U.19 IN COVERCIANO UNDER WATCHFUL EYE OF PRANDELLI" (in Italian). FIGC. 14 December 2011. Retrieved 13 September 2012.
    17. ↑ http://www.legapro.it/tabellino-italia-lega-pro-under-19/
    18. ↑ "EUROPEI: GLI AZZURRINI BATTONO 2-1 IL BELGIO AL DEBUTTO" (in Italian). FIGC. 23 May 2012. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
    19. ↑ http://www.uefa.com/under19/season=2012/teams/player=250050378/index.html
    20. ↑ Belotti: "Prima facevo il centrocampista. Se sono un attaccante lo devo a..." Mediagol.it
    21. ↑ Bergomi: "Belotti, ricordo quando ti affrontai..." Mediagol.it
    22. ↑ Belotti, gol da predestinato. Con la benedizione di Mondonico... Gianlucadimarzio.com
    23. ↑ Evani: "Belotti attaccante vero, come lui pochi" Mediagol.it
    24. ↑ Andrea Belotti profile at Soccerway. Retrieved 8 July 2015.

    External links

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