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 ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for club

Cremonese Cremona (, also ; ; lmo, label= Cremunés, Cremùna; egl, Carmona) is a city and ''comune'' in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po river in the middle of the ''Pianura Padana'' (Po Valley). It is the capital of the ...

. Bertolacci began his career 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 signed by

AC Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 and 1982–83 season ...

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, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the ...

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 (), 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 ...

team,

Lecce Lecce ( ); el, label=Griko, Luppìu, script=Latn; la, Lupiae; grc, Λουπίαι, translit=Loupíai), group=pron is a historic city of 95,766 inhabitants (2015) in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Lecce, the provinc ...

. He scored the first goal for Lecce against

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in ...

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 club Alessandria. 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 f ...

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 Panagiotis Tachtsidis ( el, Παναγιώτης Ταχτσίδης; born 15 February 1991) is a Greek professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Emirati club Khor Fakkan. Club career AEK Athens Tachtsidis was scouted by Toni Savevs ...

. 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 it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

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. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s ...

until 30 June 2020.

Fatih Karagümrük

On 23 December 2020, Bertolacci signed for

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

club

Fatih Karagümrük Fatih () is a district of and a municipality (''belediye'') in Istanbul, Turkey, and home to almost all of the provincial authorities (including the governor's office, police headquarters, metropolitan municipality and tax office) but not the ...

Kayserispor

On 14 January 2022, Bertolacci joined

Kayserispor Kayseri Spor Kulübü, commonly known as Kayserispor, is a Turkish professional football club based in Kayseri. They play their home matches at the Kadir Has Stadium in red and yellow kits. The team has won one Turkish Cup in 2008 and also fin ...

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

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 UEFA U-17 Championship 2008 elite round is the second round of qualifications for the final tournament of UEFA U-17 Championship 2008. The winners of each group join hosts Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiy ...

, 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 Production It was based on an early play by Howson and was the seventh film from Boulevard Films Boulevard Fil ...

, 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. 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 country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

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 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 ...

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 ...

match against

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

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 i ...

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

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Mac ...

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) 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 parts of the country. ...

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 Creative may refer to: *Creativity, phenomenon whereby something new and valuable is created * "Creative" (song), a 2008 song by Leon Jackson * Creative class, a proposed socioeconomic class * Creative destruction, an economic term * Creative dir ...

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, 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 A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, or as a

mezzala A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

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 Alessandro is both a given name and a surname, the Italian form of the name Alexander. Notable people with the name include: People with the given name Alessandro * Alessandro Allori (1535–1607), Italian portrait painter * Alessandro Baricc ...

, who is also a footballer.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

AC Milan *

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana ( en, Italian Super Cup) is an annual football match contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season. If the same team wins both the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles in the previous seas ...

: 2016

References

External links

La Gazzetta dello Sport Profile

FIGC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bertolacci, Andrea 1991 births Living people Footballers from Rome Italian men's 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 Italy men's youth international footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football midfielders Italy men's international footballers Italian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Italian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey