Diego Perotti Almeira (born 26 July 1988) is an Argentine former 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 ...

. Mainly a winger who could play with both feet, he also appeared as an

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. ...

. He spent the better part of his career with

Sevilla Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...

, appearing in 159 competitive games over six

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

seasons (16 goals) and winning two major titles. In February 2016 he signed with

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 ...

in the Italian

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 ...

, leaving four years later. Perotti earned five

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Club career

Sevilla

Born in

Moreno, Buenos Aires Moreno is a city in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the head town of Moreno Partido. It forms part of the Greater Buenos Aires urban conurbation and is located around to the west of the autonomous city of Buenos Aires. According to the ...

of Italian ancestry on his father's side, Perotti joined Spain's

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, that competes in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. The club was formed on 25 January ...

in the summer of 2007, from Club Deportivo Morón. At first he was assigned to the

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

ns' B team which had just won promotion to

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

, and proved instrumental as the side retained their league status. Perotti also started with the reserves in the 2008–09 season, receiving his first-team debut on 15 February 2009 as he appeared 15 minutes in a 2–0 win at

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

. Often competing for a berth with another graduate,

Diego Capel Diego Ángel Capel Trinidad (; born 16 February 1988) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a left winger. He made his senior debut with Sevilla at 16, going on to appear in 173 competitive matches for the club over seven La ...

, his first goal for the club came against

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña () or simply Depor, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, that competes in the Segunda División, the ...

on 23 May, as he scored in the 90th minute of the game to guarantee a third-place

finish in the league, with the subsequent

return Return may refer to: In business, economics, and finance * Return on investment (ROI), the financial gain after an expense. * Rate of return, the financial term for the profit or loss derived from an investment * Tax return, a blank document or t ...

to the

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 ...

. During 2009–10, Perotti won the battle with Capel and became Sevilla's first-choice in his position, starting the campaign on a high note. On 16 March 2010, he netted against

PFC CSKA Moscow Professional Football Club CSKA (, derived from the historical name 'Центральный спортивный клуб армии', English language, English: ''Central Sports Club of the Army''), commonly referred to as CSKA Moscow or ''CSK ...

in the Champions League round of 16, but the Russian team won 2–1 away and 3–2 on aggregate. Perotti appeared in only 58 matches in all competitions from 2011 to 2014, mainly due to injuries. In February 2014, he was loaned to

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is best known for its men's professional Association football, football team which, since its promotion in 1913 ...

in his homeland for six months.

Genoa

On 2 July 2014, Perotti signed for Italian club

Genoa CFC Genoa Cricket and Football Club () is an Italian professional Association football, football club based in Genoa, Liguria. The team competes in the Serie A, the top division of the Italian football league system. Established in 1893, Genoa is ...

after agreeing to a four-year contract. He made his competitive debut on 31 August, playing 69 minutes in a 1–2 home loss to

SSC Napoli Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli (), commonly known as SSC Napoli or simply Napoli, is an Italian professional football club based in Naples, Campania that currently competes in the Serie A, the highest league of Italian football. Napoli are am ...

Roma

On 1 February 2016, Perotti joined fellow

side

AS Roma Associazione Sportiva Roma (''Rome Sport Association''; Italian pronunciation: Help:IPA/Italian, ) is a professional Association football, football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier ...

on loan for €1 million, with an option to buy for another €9 million. He scored his first goal six days later, the winner in a 2–1 home win over

UC Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Genoa, Liguria. Sampdoria was formed in 1946 from the List of football club mergers, merg ...

. Later that month, he signed a permanent deal until June 2019. Perotti scored ten competitive goals in his first full season for the runners-up, adding eight in his second. In 2018–19, however, he was often sidelined with injury problems.

Fenerbahçe

Perotti moved to Turkish club Fenerbahçe S.K. on 5 October 2020 on a two-year contract, with an option to extend for another year. On 1 September 2021, however, after having contracted a rare and serious knee injury, he left by mutual consent.

Salernitana

On 2 February 2022, Perotti returned to Italy and its top tier after signing a short-term contract with newly promoted

US Salernitana 1919 Unione Sportiva Salernitana 1919 is an Italian professional football club based in Salerno, Campania. The original club was founded in 1919 and has been reconstituted three times in the course of its history, most recently in 2011. The current ...

. In September 2024, two years after his last match, the 36-year-old announced his retirement.

International career

On 9 November 2009, Perotti received his maiden call-up for the Argentina national team. He made his debut five days later, playing the last ten minutes of the 2–1 friendly loss against

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

after having come on as a substitute for

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (; born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Major League Soccer ...

. Perotti was named in a preliminary 35-man squad for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

in Russia but he did not make the final cut.

Personal life

Perotti's father, Hugo, was also a footballer.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Sevilla *

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

: 2009–10 *

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

: 2013–14 *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España, also known as the Spanish Super Cup, is a super cup tournament in Football in Spain, Spanish football. Founded in 1982 Supercopa de España, 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2 ...

runner-up:

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Rangers * ViaPlay League Cup: 2023–24

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Perotti, Diego 1988 births Living people Argentine sportspeople of Italian descent 21st-century Argentine sportsmen Argentine men's footballers Footballers from Moreno Partido Men's association football wingers Argentine Primera División players Deportivo Morón footballers Boca Juniors footballers La Liga players Segunda División players Sevilla Atlético players Sevilla FC players Serie A players Genoa CFC players AS Roma players US Salernitana 1919 players Süper Lig players Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers Argentina men's international footballers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Turkey