Leonardo Cerri (born 4 March 2003) 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 striker for club

Juventus Next Gen Juventus Next Gen (), also known as Juve Next Gen or Juve NG, is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, which acts as the reserve team of club Juventus. They compete in , and play their home games at the Stadio La Marm ...

Career

Early career

Born in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, Italy, Cerri began his youth career playing

futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

at Atletico Torrino, before joining Lupa Roma in 2015. After one year he moved to Unicusano Fondi and, in summer of 2017, he joined

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 ...

. In the 2018–19 season, Cerri scored 14 goals with Pescara's under-16s; he also played three games with the under-17s at the end of the season, scoring a goal.

Juventus

On 2 July 2019, Cerri joined

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 ...

in a transfer worth €1.1 million, with Pescara having 50% of his future sale. He played for the under-17s in the 2019–20 season, scoring 12 goals in 17 games. In 2020–21, Cerri was moved to the under-19s, playing in the

Campionato Primavera 1 Campionato Primavera 1, known also as Campionato Primavera 1 TIM – Trofeo Giacinto Facchetti due to sponsorship and posthumous honour, is an Italian football youth competition. It was created in 2017–18 season by splitting Campionato Nazion ...

. On 24 January 2021, Cerri scored on his debut for

Juventus U23 Juventus Next Gen (), also known as Juve Next Gen or Juve NG, is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, which acts as the reserve team of club Juventus. They compete in , and play their home games at the Stadio La Marm ...

– the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

of Juventus – in the

Serie C The Serie C (), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing ...

, coming on as a substitute and scoring the equalizer in a 1–1 draw against Pro Sesto. He also scored a disallowed goal in the 90+5th minute. Cerri made three further appearances for the under-23s in 2020–21, as well as two in 2021–22. In the 2021–22 season, he scored nine goals in 27 appearances (including 13 as a substitute) for Juventus U19, also helping the to reach the semi-finals, their best-ever placing in the competition. On 6 July 2022, he signed a new contract for Juventus after the previous had expired six days earlier. On 7 December, he scored Juventus Next Gen's opener in their 2–1 win to

Padova Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of ...

in the

Coppa Italia Serie C Coppa Italia Serie C (), formerly named Coppa Italia Lega Pro, is a straight knock-out based competition involving teams from Serie C in Italian football first held in 1972. Format There are a total of six rounds in the competition. It begins i ...

. On 12 February 2024, Cerri made his

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 ...

debut in Juventus's 1–0 defeat to

Udinese Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sport ...

as an 84th-minute substitute.

Loan to Carrarese

On 1 August 2024, Cerri was loaned to

Carrarese Carrarese Calcio 1908, commonly referred to as Carrarese, is an Italian football club based in Carrara, Tuscany. The team plays in Serie B, second tier of Italian football, after promotion from Serie C in 2023–24. History The club was foun ...

Style of play

Cerri has been likened to former Italian footballer

Luca Toni Luca Toni (; born 26 May 1977) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a striker. A prolific goalscorer, Toni scored over 300 goals throughout his career, and is one of the top-five highest scoring Italians in all competition ...

for his movements, position, and height. At , Cerri is a tall, left-footed striker, whose main characteristics are his physical presence in the box and his

heading Heading can refer to: * Heading (metalworking), a process which incorporates the extruding and upsetting processes * Heading (navigation), the direction a person or vehicle is facing, usually similar to its course ** Aircraft heading, the directi ...

International Career

In June

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, Cerri took part in the

Maurice Revello Tournament The Maurice Revello Tournament (officially French: the ''Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello''), previously known as the Toulon Tournament, is a football tournament, which traditionally features invited national teams comp ...

with Italy U21. He played four out of the five games; he also scored the winning goal in the third-place match against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Career statistics

Club

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cerri, Leonardo 2003 births Living people Footballers from Rome Italian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Lupa Roma FC players SS Racing Club Fondi players Delfino Pescara 1936 players Juventus FC players Juventus Next Gen players Carrarese Calcio 1908 players Serie C players Serie B players Serie A players Italy men's youth international footballers 21st-century Italian sportsmen