Pietro Pellegri (; born 17 March 2001) 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

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno River, Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Ancient Ro ...

, on loan from

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, and the Italy national team. In 2016, at the age of 15 years and 280 days, Pellegri joined Amedeo Amadei as the joint-youngest player to appear in Serie A at the time.

Club career

Genoa

Born in

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

, Pellegri is a youth product of the

youth academy. On 22 December 2016, he made his debut with the senior team in

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 ...

in a 1–0 away loss against

, coming on as an 88th-minute substitute for

Tomás Rincón Tomás Eduardo Rincón Hernández (; born 13 January 1988) is a Venezuelan professional Association football, footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A side Santos FC, Santos and Captain (association footb ...

. At the age of 15 years and 280 days, he equalled the record as the youngest ever Serie A debutant, held by

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 ...

's Amedeo Amadei since 1937 ( Wisdom Amey would later surpass this record on his debut for

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

in 2021). In doing so he also became the first player born in the 21st century to appear in

, and the second player born in the 2000s to make his Italian top-flight debut after Moise Kean. On 28 May, he scored his first Serie A goal in a 3–2 away loss against

, becoming the first player born in the 21st century to ever score in Serie A, and the third youngest goalscorer ever in the Italian top flight, after Amadei and

Gianni Rivera Giovanni "Gianni" Rivera (; born 18 August 1943) is an Italian politician and former association football, footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Dubbed Italy's "Golden Boy" by the media, he played the majority of his club career wi ...

. On 17 September 2017, he became the first 16-year-old to score twice in a single major European league game in a 3–2 home loss to

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

; his brace also made him the youngest player ever in Serie A to have managed to do so.

Monaco

On 27 January 2018, Pellegri signed with

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

for a reported fee of €25 million, the second largest transfer fee for a 16-year-old. He made his Monaco debut on 16 February in a 4–0 home win against

Dijon Dijon (, ; ; in Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Digion'') is a city in and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eas ...

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

, coming on for the final four minutes in place of

Keita Baldé Keita Baldé Diao (born 8 March 1995) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward or winger for club Monza. Born in Spain, he plays for the Senegal national team. Club career Early career Born in Arbúcies, Girona, Catalonia, to Sen ...

. At 16 years, 10 months and 30 days, he became the youngest league player in the club's history, breaking

Kylian Mbappé Kylian Mbappé Lottin (born 20 December 1998) is a French professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for club Real Madrid CF, Real Madrid and Captain (association football), captains ...

's record by eleven days and receiving congratulations from the French forward. On 26 August, he scored his first goal for Monaco to equalise in a 2–1 loss at

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

. As a result, he became the first player born in the 21st century to score in France's top division.

Loan to AC Milan

On 25 August 2021,

AC Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

announced the signing of Pellegri from

on a temporary loan basis, with the option to make the deal permanent, which becomes an obligation if certain conditions are met. After making only six appearances with the first team, AC Milan terminated the loan deal on 27 January 2022.

Loan to Torino

On 27 January 2022,

signed Pellegri on loan from AS Monaco, with an option to buy.

Torino

On 28 June 2022, Torino signed Pellegri on a permanent deal.

Loan to Empoli

On 30 August 2024, Pellegri was loaned out to fellow Serie A club

for the 2024–25 season. On 8 December 2024, Pellegri came off injured during Empoli's game against Verona, and was later found to have ruptured his ACL.

International career

With the Italy under-17 team, Pellegri took part at the

2017 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2017 UEFA European Under-17 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-17 Euro 2017) was the 16th edition of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship (35th edition if the Under-16 era is also included), the annual international youth association foo ...

, scoring once. He was given his first senior international call-up for

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

in September 2018 by manager

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 opening

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

matches against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

later that month. He missed the matches through a minor injury. Pellegri made his senior debut for Italy on 11 November 2020, aged 19, featuring as a substitute in a friendly match won 4–0 against

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

in Florence.

Personal life

Pellegri is the son of Genoa assistant manager and team administrator Marco Pellegri. He has stated that his idol and main influence is

Zlatan Ibrahimović Zlatan Ibrahimović (born 3 October 1981) is a Swedish former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker. Ibrahimović is known for his acrobatic strikes and Volley (association footba ...

, whom he hailed as the best striker in the world.

Career statistics

Club

International

Notes

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pellegri, Pietro 2001 births Living people Italian men's footballers Italy men's youth international footballers Italy men's international footballers Genoa CFC players AS Monaco FC players AC Milan players Torino FC players Empoli FC players Men's association football forwards Serie A players Ligue 1 players Championnat National 2 players Italian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Monaco Italian expatriate sportspeople in Monaco Footballers from Genoa 21st-century Italian sportsmen