Mattia Perin

Mattia Perin (Italian pronunciation: [matˈtia peˈrin]; born 10 November 1992) is an Italian footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Serie A club Genoa and for the Italian national team.

He began his career with Genoa in 2010, and has remained at the club ever since, aside from two season-long loan spells with Padova in 2011–12, and Pescara in 2012–13. At international level, he was an unused member of the Italy national team that took part at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and made his senior debut later that year.

Club career

Genoa

Born in Latina and a product of the Genoa youth system, Perin was promoted to first team squad on January 2010, as a third-choice goalkeeper, and received the 88 jersey. He appeared on the bench in the matches against Grosseto (20 October 2010), Vicenza (24 November), Inter (12 January 2011) and Lazio (14 May). He made his professional and Serie A debut on 22 May 2011, playing as a starter in the 3–2 home victory against Cesena.^[1]

Padova (loan)

On July 2011, he was loaned to Serie B club Padova.^[2][3] He made his Serie B debut on 1 October 2011, playing as a starter in the away match won 4–2 against Empoli.

Pescara (loan)

In the 2012 summer, he was loaned to Pescara, newly promoted in Serie A, obtaining 29 league appearances at the end of the season.

Genoa return

On 8 January 2017, Perin tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in a 1–0 home defeat to Roma, ruling him out for the remainder of the 2016–17 season.^[4]

International career

With the Italy U17 he played as the first choice keeper in both the 2009 European U17 Championship and the 2009 U17 World Cup.

As a member of the Italy U19 team he took part as the backup goalkeeper at the 2010 European U19 Championship.

He made his debut for the Italy U21 team on 11 August 2010, aged only 17, in a friendly match against Denmark.

In 2011–12 season Perin played once for Italy under-21 Serie B representative team and twice for Italy national under-20 football team, both feeder teams of U21. He received his first call up for the Italian senior team by head coach Cesare Prandelli, for the friendly match against England held on 15 August 2012 in Bern.

Perin was included in Prandelli's provisional 30-man squad ahead of 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil,^[5] and then confirmed in the 23-man squad as the third choice goalkeeper behind Gianluigi Buffon and Salvatore Sirigu. He became the youngest player of the squad and the only one who had no previous caps.

He made his debut with the national team on 18 November 2014, in a 1–0 friendly win against Albania, replacing Sirigu for the last 17 minutes at his club ground of the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.^[6]

On 9 April 2016, Perin suffered an injury with Genoa in which he tore his anterior cruciate ligament and damaged his meniscus in his right knee, which would cause his absence as Italy's third goalkeeper at the UEFA Euro 2016.^[7]

Style of play

Considered one of the most promising young Italian players in his position, Perin is an agile and dynamic keeper, who is highly regarded for his excellent reactions, positional sense and consistency; possessing good technique, he is gifted with strong all-round fundamental goalkeeping skills, and is also known for his speed and ability to come off his line to collect the ball. Due to his attributes and playing style, he has been compared to Walter Zenga.^{[8][9][10][11]}

Career statistics

Club

As of 14 February 2016^[12]

International

As of 2 July 2015^[13]

References

External links

• (in Italian) Career summary by tuttocalciatori.net
• Mattia Perin at Soccerway
• International summary by FIGC (in Italian)