Andrea Bertolacci (; born 11 January 1991) 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. Bertolacci began his career at

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

, and was signed by

AC Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

in 2015. Following loans to Genoa and Sampdoria, in 2020 he moved to Turkish side Fatih Karagümrük. Having represented Italy at youth level, he made his debut for the senior national team in November 2014, in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

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 ...

Club career

Roma

Bertolacci started his career with the

academy.

Loan to Lecce

In January 2010 he was sent on loan to

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 ...

team,

Lecce Lecce (; ) is a city in southern Italy and capital of the province of Lecce. It is on the Salentine Peninsula, at the heel of the Italian Peninsula, and is over two thousand years old. Because of its rich Baroque architecture, Lecce is n ...

. He scored the first goal for Lecce against

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 ...

a game in which he scored a brace. In summer 2010, Lecce extended the loan and borrowed

Simone Sini Simone Sini (born 9 April 1992) is an Italian footballer who plays as a centre back for Serie D club Chieti. Club career Roma Sini joined Lecce on a season-long loan deal with the option for Lecce to co-own the player at the end of the season ...

also from Roma. On 22 June 2011, Lecce excised the option to purchase 50% of his registration rights for a pre-agreed fee of €500,000. However, Roma excised the rights against the option for €500,000. Thus, Lecce received €500,000 in net as an incentive for the loan. Then Bertolacci was loaned for another season to Lecce, in order to play as a regular and gain more experience. Bertolacci scored against his parent club in a 2–1 defeat on 20 November 2011. On 30 June 2012, he returned to Roma.

Genoa

In summer 2012 he was involved in the deal to sign Genoa's Panagiotis Tachtsidis. 50% of Bertolacci's player rights were tagged for €1 million and also 50% of Tachtsidis's rights for €2.5 million. On 20 June 2014, Roma and Genoa renewed their co-ownership contract agreement with Bertolacci. The 2014–15 season with Genoa was Bertolacci's best season of his career. He scored 6 goals in 34 matches of

, producing 8 assists and helping his team reaching 6th place in the league.

AC Milan

In June 2015, Roma bought the other part of Bertolacci's player rights from Genoa for a sum of €8.5m. Subsequently, on 29 June 2015, Bertolacci joined fellow Serie A club

for €20m. He scored his first Serie A goal for Milan in a 3–1 away win over

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 ...

on 1 November 2015.

Sampdoria

On 8 October 2019, Bertolacci signed for

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa, Liguria. Sampdoria was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the ...

until 30 June 2020.

Fatih Karagümrük

On 23 December 2020, Bertolacci signed for

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

club

Fatih Karagümrük Fatih () is a municipality and district of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 15 km2, and its population is 368,227 (2022). It is home to almost all of the provincial authorities (including the mayor's office, police headquarters, metro ...

Kayserispor

On 14 January 2022, Bertolacci joined

Kayserispor Kayseri Spor Kulübü, commonly known as Kayserispor, and also called Bellona Kayserispor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional football club based in Kayseri. They play their home matches at the RHG Enertürk Enerji Stadium ...

on a two-and-a-half-year. On 3 December 2022, he terminated his contract with the club citing unpaid wages.

Return to Fatih Karagümrük

On 27 December 2022, Bertolacci re-joined Fatih Karagümrük on a one-and-a-half-year deal.

Cremonese

On 21 July 2023, Bertolacci signed a two-year contract with

Cremonese Cremona ( , , ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po (river), Po river in the middle of the Po Valley. It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local city a ...

Second return to Fatih Karagümrük

On 29 December 2023, Cremonese announced that Bertolacci was loaned back to

International career

Youth

Bertolacci started his international experience in

Val-de-Marne Val-de-Marne (, "Vale of the Marne") is a department of France located in the Île-de-France region. Named after the river Marne, it is situated in the Grand Paris metropolis to the southeast of the City of Paris. In 2019, Val-de-Marne had a ...

under-16 international tournament. He played all 3 matches of the 2008 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship elite qualification, in which Italy did not qualify to the next round. He was then promoted to the U19 team in January 2009 (as a consequence of the early exit of U-19 born 1990 team), played twice in 2010 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship elite qualification and once in the elite round. He was also selected for

the final stage ''The Final Stage'' is a film directed by Frank Howson. Cast * Tommy Dysart as Stinky Radford * Abigail as The Woman * Adrian Wright Adrian Wright (1 July 1947 – 28 November 2015) was an English-Australian actor known for his roles in th ...

, playing twice as starter. During the 2010–11 season he was capped twice for the U20 team in the Four Nations Tournament. In April 2011 he received his first under-21 call-up. However, he was injured and missed the friendly. On 10 August 2011 he made his debut with the Italy U21 team, in a friendly match against

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. On 11 June 2013, Bertolacci scored a 94th-minute equaliser – his first goal for the under-21s – against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

in the European U-21 Championships to ensure Italy topped their group. Italy went on to reach the final, though Bertolacci did not feature.

Senior

On 9 November 2014, he was called up by

Antonio Conte Antonio Conte (; born 31 July 1969) is an Italian professional Association football, football manager and former player who is currently the head coach of Serie A club Napoli. He is widely regarded as one of the best football managers in the wo ...

to the senior squad ahead of a

UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from September 2014 to November 2015 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams joining the automatically qualified host team France in the UEFA Euro 2 ...

match against

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

and a friendly against

. On 18 November, he made his debut with senior team against Albania, playing for 70 minutes in a 1–0 win at

Stadio Luigi Ferraris The Stadio Comunale Luigi Ferraris, also known as the Marassi from the name of the neighbourhood where it is located, is a multi-use stadium in Genoa, Italy. The home of Genoa C.F.C. and U.C. Sampdoria football clubs, it opened in 1911 and is t ...

. On 28 March 2015, Bertolacci made his second appearance for Italy in a Euro 2016 qualifying match against

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

which finished 2–2.

Style of play

Bertolacci is a quick, hardworking, versatile and well-rounded

, who is also capable of playing in several other positions, due to his ability to aid his team both offensively and defensively. A left-footed player, he is usually deployed as a creative

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, due to his vision, passing, technique, and striking ability, as well as his adeptness at making attacking runs, although he is also capable of playing as a

central midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, or as a

mezzala In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

Personal life

Bertolacci married actress

Nicole Murgia Nicole Murgia is an Italian actress best known for her role of Cristina Giorgi in the Italian television series Tutti pazzi per amore. She married footballer Andrea Bertolacci on 23 December 2015; her brother Alessandro is also a footballer. ...

on 23 December 2015 and is brother-in-law with her brother, Alessandro, who is also a footballer.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

AC Milan *

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 ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

References

External links

La Gazzetta dello Sport Profile

FIGC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bertolacci, Andrea 1991 births Living people Italian men's footballers Footballers from Rome Men's association football midfielders Italy men's international footballers Italy men's youth international footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Serie A players Serie B players Süper Lig players AS Roma players US Lecce players Genoa CFC players AC Milan players UC Sampdoria players Fatih Karagümrük S.K. footballers Kayserispor footballers US Cremonese players Italian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Italian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey 21st-century Italian sportsmen