Mattia Perin (; born 10 November 1992) 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 lea ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for club

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

. Perin began his career with Genoa in 2010, and, aside from two season-long loan spells with

Padova Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of ...

in 2011–12, and

Pescara Pescara (; ; ) is the capital city of the province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo Regions of Italy, region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 118,657 (January 1, 2023) residents (and approximately 350,000 including the surround ...

in 2012–13, he then remained there until the summer of 2018, during which he was sold to

. He won the league title with the club during the 2018–19 season, although he primarily served as a back-up. At international level, he was an unused member of the Italy national team that took part at the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...

, and made his senior debut later that year.

Club career

Genoa

Born in Latina and a product of the

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

youth system, Perin was promoted to first team squad in January 2010, as a third-choice goalkeeper, and received the 88 jersey. He appeared on the bench in the matches against

Grosseto Grosseto () is a city and a ''comune'' in the central Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of the province of Grosseto and the main city of the Maremma region. The city lies from the Tyrrhenian Sea, at the centre of an alluvial plain on the ...

(20 October 2010),

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; or , archaically ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, where it straddles the Bacchiglione, River Bacchiglione. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and e ...

(24 November), Inter (12 January 2011) and

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

(14 May). He made his professional and

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

debut on 22 May 2011, playing as a starter in the 3–2 home victory against

Cesena Cesena (; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy; and - with Forlì - is the capital of the Province of Forlì-Cesena. Served by Autostrada A14 (Italy), Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine M ...

. In July 2011, he was loaned to

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

club

. He made his Serie B debut on 1 October 2011, playing as a starter in the away match won 4–2 against

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno River, Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Ancient Ro ...

. In the 2012 summer, he was loaned to

, newly promoted in

, obtaining 29 league appearances at the end of the season. 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.

Juventus

On 8 June 2018, Perin signed for

on a four-year contract for a fee of €12 million plus €3 million in bonuses; he was initially expected to compete with Wojciech Szczęsny for a starting spot, following the departure of Gianluigi Buffon. Perin made his Juventus debut on 26 September 2018, keeping a clean sheet in a 2–0 home win over

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

. On 1 April 2019, he injured his right shoulder. He only made a total of nine competitive appearances for the club throughout the season, all of which came in Serie A, as Juventus finished the season as league champions. In July, Perin was linked with a move to Portuguese side Benfica; however, he failed his medical, due to a shoulder injury, and the transfer was not completed. Due to the return of Buffon as a back-up to Szczęsny, Perin was relegated to the role of the club's fourth goalkeeper, behind Carlo Pinsoglio; as such, in September, he was subsequently excluded from Juventus's 22–player Champions League squad by manager Maurizio Sarri. On 2 January 2020, he rejoined Genoa on loan until the end of the 2019–20 season. He made his first appearance since his return three days later, in a 2–1 home win over

Sassuolo Sassuolo (; ) 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 for being the centre of the Ita ...

in Serie A. On 5 September 2020, he rejoined Genoa on loan until the end of the 2020–21 season. In the summer of 2021, Perin returned to Juventus as a back-up to Szczęsny. He made his debut from his return on 26 September, in a 3–2 win against Sampdoria in Serie A. On 8 December, he made his UEFA Club Competition and

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

debut in a 1–0 home win over

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in Juventus's final first-round match of the latter competition, which saw them top their group. On 14 April 2022, Juventus announced his contract had been extended until 2025. On 15 May 2024, Perin started in Juventus's 1–0 victory over

Atalanta Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

in the 2024 Coppa Italia final, keeping a clean-sheet.

International career

Youth teams

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

2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the thirteenth tournament of the FIFA U-17 World Cup held in Nigeria from 24 October to 15 November 2009. Switzerland national under-17 football team, Switzerland won the tournament, beating the host team and holde ...

held in Nigeria. 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 Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. 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.

Senior team

Perin received his first call up for the Italian senior team by head coach Cesare Prandelli, for the friendly match against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

held on 15 August 2012 in

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

; seven other new faces were in the squad. He was included in Prandelli's provisional 30-man squad ahead of

in Brazil, and then confirmed in the 23-man squad as the third choice goalkeeper behind

Gianluigi Buffon Gianluigi Buffon (; born 28 January 1978) is an Italian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he is ...

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 Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

, replacing Sirigu for the last 17 minutes at his club ground of the Stadio Luigi Ferraris. On 9 April 2016, he suffered an injury with Genoa in which he tore his

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation. In ...

and damaged his meniscus in his right knee, which would cause his absence as Italy's third goalkeeper at the

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's association football, football ch ...

. Perin made his first start on his second cap on 4 June 2018, a 1–1 friendly draw against the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

in Turin.

Style of play

Considered one of the most promising young Italian players of his generation in his position, Perin is an agile, athletic, and dynamic keeper, who is highly regarded for his excellent reactions, shot-stopping ability, positional sense, bravery, and consistency; possessing good technique, he is gifted with strong all-round fundamental goalkeeping skills, and is also known for his speed to get to ground and ability to come off his line to collect the ball. Standing at , although he is not the tallest shot-stopper, he is gifted with an excellent spring, a large frame, and a long reach, which aids him in commanding his area, claiming or punching out crosses, and also enables him to produce spectacular, acrobatic, diving saves. Due to his attributes, movements, and playing style, he has been compared to Walter Zenga. In spite of his talent, however, he has struggled with injuries on occasion.

Controversy

Perin had several run-ins with fans of

Frosinone Frosinone (; local dialect: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lazio, administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is about southeast of Rome, close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of th ...

, the local rivals of his hometown of Latina. In May 2016, during an

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argument with a fan of the latter team, he wrote "your grandfather speaks Arabic", in reference to the '' Marocchinate'' atrocities in the region in 1944. The insult was condemned in the

Italian Senate The Senate of the Republic (), or simply the Senate ( ), is the upper house of the bicameral Italian Parliament, the lower house being the Chamber of Deputies. The two houses together form a perfect bicameral system, meaning they perform iden ...

by the city's senator Maria Spilabotte. In September 2018, Juventus manager

Massimiliano Allegri Massimiliano "Max" Allegri (; born 11 August 1967) is an Italian professional Association football, football manager and former professional player. He is currently manager of Serie A club AC Milan. During his playing career, Allegri played in ...

benched Perin for the club's game away to Frosinone.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Juventus *

: 2018–19 *

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

: 2023–24 *

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana, also known as the Italian Super Cup, is an annual super cup tournament in Italian football. Founded in 1988 as a two-team competition, it has featured four teams since 2023 (the winners and runners-up of the previous ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Individual

UEFA European Under-17 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-17, is an annual Association football, football competition contested by the men's under-17 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain national under-17 football team, ...

Team of the tournament:

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

References

External links

Mattia Perin
at the Juventus F.C. website *

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Perin, Mattia 1992 births Living people Footballers from Latina, Lazio Italian men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Serie A players Serie B players Genoa CFC players Calcio Padova players Delfino Pescara 1936 players Juventus FC players Italy men's youth international footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers 2014 FIFA World Cup players Italy men's international footballers 21st-century Italian sportsmen