Gianluca Mancini (; born 17 April 1996) is an Italian

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

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

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 ...

club

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 the Italy national team.

Club career

Perugia

Mancini left for Perugia on loan in mid–2015, with an option to purchase. Mancini made his professional debut in the

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 ...

for

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

on 11 September 2015 in a game against

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 ...

. After a brief return to Florence, by the club excising the counter-option. on 1 August 2016,

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

announced that they had sold Mancini to Perugia outright for free. It was later revealed that Fiorentina was eligible to 50% future transfer fee.

Atalanta

In January 2017, Mancini and Alessandro Santopadre, son of Massimiliano Santopadre, chairman of Perugia, were signed by

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 ...

for €200,000 and €1 million transfer fees respectively. They were immediately loaned back to Perugia from Atalanta. The deal was later accused by the prosecutor as a manipulation of transfer fees, which overstated the price-tag of Santopadre and understated Mancini. The chairman and both clubs were acquitted of any wrongdoing in July 2018. Mancini made his

debut in a 1–1 draw against his former team

, replacing Rafael Toloi after 25 minutes. On 4 February 2018, he scored his first goal in a 1–0 for

against Chievo in

Roma

On 17 July 2019, Mancini joined

on loan with a conditional obligation to buy for €13 million plus bonuses and a 10 per cent sell on fee.

International career

On 1 September 2017, Mancini made his international debut with the Italy U21 team in a 3–0 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 ...

. On 15 March 2019, Gianluca Mancini received a call up from

Roberto Mancini Roberto Mancini (; born 27 November 1964) is an Italian football manager and former player who was most recently the head coach of the Saudi Arabia national team. As a player, Mancini operated as a deep-lying forward, and was best known for h ...

for Italy's

UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2019 to November 2020 to determine the 24 UEFA member men's national teams that advanced to the UEFA Euro 2020 final tournament, intended to be playe ...

matches against

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

and

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

. On 26 March, he made his senior international debut in a 6–0 home win over Liechtenstein. He took part in the

2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2019) was the 22nd edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship (25th edition if the Under-23 era is also included), the biennial international youth association ...

Style of play

Mancini is a tall and physically strong

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

capable of playing in both a three or a four-man defensive line. Among his strengths are his excellent heading ability, which makes him a likely goal threat in the opposition's penalty box. Besides his regular position, he can also play as a right–sided full-back and a

defensive 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. ...

, mainly out of necessity. He has cited

Marco Materazzi Marco Materazzi (; born 19 August 1973) is an Italian former professional Association football, footballer and Association football manager, manager. Early in his career, Materazzi played with various Italian teams in Serie B and Serie C, and w ...

as his favourite defender of all time.

Personal life

In December 2019, Gianluca married his long-term partner Elisa, together they have two daughters. Despite sharing a surname, he is not related to Italian football manager

or the Brazilian Football manager Vagner Mancini.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Roma *

UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual association football, football competition organised since 2021 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European foot ...

: 2021–22 *

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 ...

runner-up: 2022–23 Individual *

Team of the Season: 2020–21, 2023–24

References

External links

Gianluca Mancini
at the A.S. Roma website
FIGC Profile
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mancini, Gianluca 1996 births Living people Sportspeople from Pontedera Footballers from the Province of Pisa Men's association football central defenders Italian men's footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Italy men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2024 players AC Perugia Calcio players Atalanta BC players AS Roma players Serie B players Serie A players UEFA Conference League–winning players 21st-century Italian sportsmen