Leonardo Blanchard (born 6 May 1988) is an Italian footballer 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 ...

Club career

Born in

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 ...

, Tuscany, Blanchard started his career at his hometown club Sauro Rispescia, located in

Rispescia Rispescia (), or Santa Maria di Rispescia, is a small town in southern Tuscany, a '' frazione'' of the ''comune'' of Grosseto, situated about 10 km south-east of the capital, right outside the Natural Park of Maremma, near the frazione of Al ...

frazione A ''frazione'' (: ''frazioni'') is a type of subdivision of a ''comune'' ('municipality') in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidat ...

''.

Siena

On 30 August 2005 he was signed by

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

Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

, which is also a Tuscan team. He played for its Berretti team (B team of under-20 age group or U-18 team). In the next season he left for

Poggibonsi Poggibonsi is a town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, Central Italy. It is located on the River Elsa (river), Elsa and is the main centre of the Valdelsa, Valdelsa Valley. History The area around Poggibonsi was already settled in the Neolithic ...

, but in January 2007 left for

Serie D The Serie D () is the highest level of semi-professional football in Italy, and the fourth tier of the Italian national league system. It sits beneath the third and lowest fully professional league, Serie C, and feeds in to it through promotion ...

team Sangimignano; the team was relegated to

Eccellenza Tuscany Eccellenza Tuscany () is the regional Eccellenza football division for clubs in Tuscany, Italy. It is competed amongst 37 teams, in three different groups (A, B and C). The winners of the Groups compete together in final round robin, and the first ...

at the end of season. Blanchard was promoted to the ''Primavera'' under-20 team of Siena in 2007–08 season. In 2008, he left for Valle del Giovenco, his first team outside Tuscany, where he spent seasons. At the end of the 2010 winter (January) transfer window, he left for Pergocrema, with Fabrizio Di Bella moving in the opposite direction on a temporary deal. He played both legs of the relegation "play-out". In July 2010 he left for

Pavia Pavia ( , ; ; ; ; ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, in Northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino (river), Ticino near its confluence with the Po (river), Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was a major polit ...

. He was a call-up to Siena's pre-season camp in 2011. He played a few friendlies before he left the club on 20 July.

Frosinone

On 9 August 2012 he left for

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 ...

. On 19 June 2013 Frosinone bought Blanchard's registration rights definitively for a peppercorn fee of €1,000. On 23 September 2015, Blanchard made Frosinone club history by scoring the equalizing goal in the closing minute of stoppage time in a 1–1 draw against Serie A giants,

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 ...

. This was Frosinone's first historical

point. Blanchard also revealed it was "an emotional moment" especially since he declared to have been a Juventus fan for a long time.

Carpi

In mid-2016 he was signed by

Carpi Carpi may refer to: Places * Carpi, Emilia-Romagna, a large town in the province of Modena, central Italy ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Carpi * Carpi (Africa), a city and former diocese of Roman Africa, now a Roman Catholic titular see People ...

. He joined the pre-season camp circa 22 July. He was assigned No.23 shirt. On 30 January 2017 Blanchard left for

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

on loan. Blanchard returned to Carpi in mid-2017. However, he was left out from the squad for

2017–18 Serie B The 2017–18 Serie B (known as the Serie B ConTe.it for sponsorship reasons) was the 86th season since its establishment in 1929. A total of 22 teams contested the league: 15 returning from the 2016–17 Serie B season, 4 promoted from 2016� ...

season. On 31 January 2018 Blanchard left for

Alessandria Alessandria (; ) is a city and commune in Piedmont, Italy, and the capital of the Province of Alessandria. It is also the largest municipality of the region. The city is sited on the alluvial plain between the Tanaro and the Bormida rivers, ...

. Blanchard was released by Carpi in July 2018 in a mutual consent.

References

External links

Football.it Profile

Pergocrema Profile (2009–10)
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blanchard, Leonardo 1988 births Living people Italian men's footballers Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Siena FC SSD players US Poggibonsi players US Pergolettese 1932 players AC Pavia 1911 SSD players Frosinone Calcio players AC Carpi players Brescia Calcio players US Alessandria Calcio 1912 players Men's association football central defenders Footballers from Grosseto 21st-century Italian sportsmen