Matteo Politano (; born 3 August 1993) is an Italian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a winger (on both the left and the right flanks) or as a

second striker Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

for

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Copp ...

club

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

and the Italy national team.

Club career

Roma

Of Calabrian origin from Fiumefreddo Bruzio, Politano is a youth product of

A.S. Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...

, with whom he won the 2010 "Allievi" U17 league, as well as the 2011

Campionato Nazionale Primavera The Campionato Nazionale Primavera – Trofeo Giacinto Facchetti, was an Italian football youth competition. It is organised by the Lega Serie A and the participating teams that take part in Serie A and Serie B: the first edition was held in t ...

and the 2012 Coppa Italia Primavera. He was the sixth highest scorer of Roma's youth squad in the 2011–12 season (7 goals), behind Junior Tallo, Nicolás López, Gianluca Leonardi, Federico Viviani and

Giammario Piscitella Giammario Piscitella (born 24 March 1993) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a winger for club Rimini. Club career Genoa As a graduate of Roma reserve team, Piscitella signed a new five-year contract in May 2012. On 30 July he ...

. In July 2012, Politano was loaned to

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and par ...

. He made his professional debut in the

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity ...

. Politano was the starting forward in the

2012–13 Lega Pro Prima Divisione The 2012–13 Lega Pro Prima Divisione season was the thirty-fifth football league season of Italian Lega Pro Prima Divisione since its establishment in 1978, and the fifth since the renaming from Serie C to Lega Pro. It was divided into two pha ...

, with 3 goals in first 5 league matches in September.

Pescara

On 30 June 2013,

Pescara Pescara (; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Abruzzese, Pescàrë; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Pescarese, Piscàrë) is the capital city of the Province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo Regions of Italy, region of Italy. It is the most populated ci ...

signed Politano (€500,000) and Piscitella (€1.5 million) as part of the deal that Caprari returned to Roma (€2 million); however, Caprari returned to Pescara again (€1.5 million) for Piscitella (€1.5 million) in January 2014. On 27 June 2015, Roma bought back Politano for €601,000, with Caprari moving to Pescara outright for €125,000.

Sassuolo

On 2 July 2015, Serie A club

Sassuolo Sassuolo (; egl, label= Modenese, Sasól ) is an Italian town, ''comune'', and industrial centre of the Province of Modena in Emilia-Romagna. Standing on the right bank of the river Secchia some southwest of Modena, the town is best known fo ...

signed Politano in a temporary deal with an option to purchase. In June 2016, Sassuolo exercised their option to buy Politano.

Inter Milan

On 30 June 2018, Politano signed for

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter i ...

on a season-long loan deal from Sassuolo, with an option to buy in June 2019. He made his official debut for the club on 19 August in the first match of

2018–19 Serie A The 2018–19 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 117th season of top-tier Italian football, the 87th in a round-robin tournament, and the 9th since its organization under a league committee separate from Serie ...

against his parent club Sassuolo, which ended in a 1–0 away loss. On 15 September, Politano played his 100th Serie A match in a 1–0 shock loss to

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second mos ...

at home. Two weeks later, he made his debut in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

in a 2–1 comeback win over

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

San Siro Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, commonly known as San Siro, is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy, which is the home of A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. It has a seating capacity of 80,018, making it one of the largest stadiums ...

in the first

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

match. On 29 September, he opened his scoring account for Inter in the league match against

Cagliari Cagliari (, also , , ; sc, Casteddu ; lat, Caralis) is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name ''Casteddu'' means ''castle''. It has about 155,000 inhabitan ...

, netting the second with a long-range strike in a 2–0 home win. During the course of 2018–19 season, Politano was the most used out-field player, having made 48 appearances in all competitions; only goalkeeper

Samir Handanović Samir Handanović (born 14 July 1984) is a Slovenian professional footballer who serves as captain and plays as a goalkeeper for club Inter Milan. Before moving to Italy, Handanović played in his home country of Slovenia. In 2004, he was acqui ...

playing more than him. As a result, on 19 June 2019 Inter exercised their option to buy Politano from Sassuolo. However, with the appointment of head coach

Antonio Conte Antonio Conte (; born 31 July 1969) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. Playing as a midfielder, Conte began his career at local club Lecce and later ...

and subsequent switch of formation from

4–3–3 In association football, the formation of a team refers to the position players take in relation to each other on a pitch. As association football is a fluid and fast-moving game, a player's position (with the exception of the goalkeeper) in a ...

to 3–5–2, Politano soon lost his place in the team's usual starting line-up. In January 2020, Politano passed the medical at

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council * Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

and was due to be exchanged for

Leonardo Spinazzola Leonardo Spinazzola (; born 25 March 1993) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a left-sided midfielder or wing-back for Serie A club Roma and the Italy national team. Club career Early years with Siena and loan spells across I ...

yet the transfer collapsed as Inter were not entirely satisfied with Spinazzola's physical conditions and failed at re-negotiation of the deal.

Napoli

On 28 January 2020, Politano moved to

on a two-year loan with an obligation to make deal permanent. On 29 October 2020, he scored the only goal in a 1–0 away win over

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septemb ...

in the

2020–21 UEFA Europa League The 2020–21 UEFA Europa League was the 50th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 12th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. Villarreal defeated Manchester United ...

International career

Politano received his first Italy U19 call-up against the Italy U20 "C" side in December 2011. He then played two times during the team's

2012 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship elite qualification 2012 UEFA European Under-19 Championship (Elite Round) was the second round of qualifications for the final tournament of 2012 UEFA European Under-19 Championship. The 25 teams that advanced from the qualifying round plus three teams who received ...

campaign (featuring as a substitute for Elio De Silvestro) and appeared in two friendlies before the elite round of the competition. On 5 November 2016, Politano was called up to the senior squad for the first time for the

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia qualifying automatically as hosts. All 210 ...

match against

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German language, German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constit ...

and a friendly match against

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

by manager

Gian Piero Ventura Gian Piero Ventura (; born 14 January 1948) is an Italian football manager. His playing career as a midfielder was spent in the lower leagues, having not made the grade at Sampdoria, where he began his coaching career with the youth team in 197 ...

. He later made his senior international debut for the national team on 28 May 2018, under manager

Roberto Mancini Roberto Mancini (; born 27 November 1964) is an Italian football manager and former player. He is currently the manager of the Italy national team. As a player, Mancini operated as a deep-lying forward, and was best known for his time at Sampd ...

, starting for Italy in a 2–1 friendly win over

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries by area, fifth-largest country in Asia ...

. On 20 November 2018, he scored his first goal for Italy on his second cap in the 94th minute of a 1–0 friendly match win over the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, held in Genk.

Style of play

Politano is a quick and diminutive left-footed player, with an eye for goal, who is gifted with pace, vision, good technique, and

dribbling In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. A ...

ability at speed, as well as good close control and first-time passing ability in close spaces. A versatile player, he is usually deployed as a winger, and is capable of playing on either flank, as well as in numerous other attacking roles across the

front line A front line (alternatively front-line or frontline) in military terminology is the position(s) closest to the area of conflict of an armed force's personnel and equipment, usually referring to land forces. When a front (an intentional or unint ...

, including as a

. He also possesses a good shot from distance, and is a threat from set-pieces.

Personal life

On 20 November 2021, it was announced that Politano tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

, while being

asymptomatic In medicine, any disease is classified asymptomatic if a patient tests as carrier for a disease or infection but experiences no symptoms. Whenever a medical condition fails to show noticeable symptoms after a diagnosis it might be considered as ...

, amid its pandemic in Italy; he recovered by 29 November. Married in June 2018 to Silvia Di Vincenzo, he later became engaged to PR Ginevra Sozzi. On June 17, 2021, their first daughter, Giselle, was born.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Italy's goal tally first.''

Honours

Napoli *

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

: 2019–20

References

External links

Profile
at the S.S.C. Napoli website *
Lega Serie B profile

Lega Serie A profile

FIGC profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Politano, Matteo Italian men's footballers AS Roma players A.C. Perugia Calcio players Delfino Pescara 1936 players US Sassuolo Calcio players Inter Milan players SSC Napoli players Men's association football forwards Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Italy men's international footballers Italy men's youth international footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Footballers from Rome People of Calabrian descent 1993 births Living people