Daniel Sartori Bessa (born 14 January 1993) is an Italian Brazilian

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 le ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Emirati club

Al-Ittihad Kalba Ittihad Kalba Football Club ( ar, نادي إتحاد كلباء لكرة القدم‎) is a Association football, football club in Kalba, United Arab Emirates. History Ittihad Kalba was established in 1972 when two clubs ''(Al Shabab)'' and '' ...

. He was called up to the

Italy national under-18 football team The Italian national under-18 football team represents Italy in international football at an under-18 age level and is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (''Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio''), the governing body for football in ...

. Bessa qualified for Italian citizenship through his family who have

Venetian Venetian often means from or related to: * Venice, a city in Italy * Veneto, a region of Italy * Republic of Venice (697–1797), a historical nation in that area Venetian and the like may also refer to: * Venetian language, a Romance language s ...

origins.

Club career

Early career

Bessa started his career in Brazil with

Clube Atlético Paranaense Club Athletico Paranaense (commonly known as Athletico and formerly known as Atlético Paranaense) is a Brazilian football team from the city of Curitiba, capital city of the Brazilian state of Paraná, founded on March 26, 1924. The team ...

. He also played

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hardcourt, hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and Indoor soccer, indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players ...

with Coritiba Futsal in 2004.

Internazionale

Inter noticed Bessa when he was playing for Atletico Paranaense's youth team and brought him to Italy in 2008. 2012 was his breakthrough year in the Primavera, being a main reason for Inter winning the

NextGen Series The NextGen Series was a European football club cup competition for under-19 footballers. It was designed to provide players with the opportunity to match themselves against other elite European footballers of their agegroup in a competitive envi ...

, scoring three goals in the tournament and having assisted Samuele Longo's goal in the final. Unfortunately, an eye injury made him unavailable for newly appointed first team coach, former primavera coach Andrea Stramaccioni. He was back in time for the Primavera playoffs. He suffered a knee injury in the final versus

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

which kept him out for the rest of the year. In November 2012, Bessa's contract with Inter was renewed.

Vicenza (loan)

On 31 January 2013, Bessa was loaned to

Vicenza Calcio L.R. Vicenza, commonly referred to as Vicenza, is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Vicenza, Veneto. Founded in 1902 as Associazione del Calcio in Vicenza, they became Lanerossi Vicenza in 1953, then Vicenza Calcio from 1990 ...

. He made his

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, 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 ...

debut for Vicenza on 9 March 2013 in a match against Padova, coming on as a substitute. Having not played regularly for over half a year due to injury, an unfit Bessa didn't get many minutes for a relegation-battling Vicenza side.

Olhanense (loan)

On 15 July 2013, Bessa, along with fellow Inter player

Vid Belec Vid Belec (; born 6 June 1990) is a Slovenian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Cypriot First Division club APOEL and the Slovenia national team. Club career Internazionale Signed by Internazionale along with Rene Krhin at ...

, completed a loan to

Sporting Clube Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense () is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth tier of Portuguese football. It holds home matches at the ...

. He made his

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

debut on 17 August 2013 against

Vitoria de Guimaraes Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória (b ...

. On 27 November, Olhanense coach Paulo Alves announced that Bessa, who had only managed 13 minutes of playing time all season, wasn't part of his plans.

Sparta Rotterdam (loan)

On 22 January 2014, Bessa started training with

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the ...

team

Sparta Rotterdam Sparta Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands. Sparta currently compete in the Eredivisie, the top flight ...

. After some injury problems he finally made his Eerste Divisie debut on 9 March, coming on as a substitute in the 54th minute against

Jong FC Twente Jong FC Twente (English: Young FC Twente) are the reserve team of FC Twente, a team from Enschede which played in the Eerste Divisie from 2013 to 2015. Staff * ''Head coach:'' Michel Jansen * ''Assistant coach:'' Boudewijn Pahlplatz * ''Tea ...

Bologna (loan)

On 27 August 2014, Bessa was loaned to

side

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

. He made his debut as a 74th-minute substitute in the Serie B match against

Crotone Crotone (, ; nap, label= Crotonese, Cutrone or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( grc, Κρότων or ; la, Crotona) in Magna Graecia, it was known as Cotrone from the Middle Ages until ...

on 21 September. On 13 December 2014, he scored his first Serie B goal against

Frosinone Frosinone (, local dialect: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, the administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is located about south-east of Rome close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of the Va ...

. On 9 June 2015, Bologna were promoted to Serie A, after a 1–1 draw with

Pescara Pescara (; nap, label= Abruzzese, Pescàrë; nap, label= Pescarese, Piscàrë) is the capital city of the Province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 119,217 (2018) residents (and approxim ...

in the promotion playoffs. Bessa finished the season with 30 appearances, 1 goal and 3 assists, with 2 being from corners.

Como (loan)

On 6 August 2015, Bessa was signed by

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label=Comasco dialect, Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and ...

Verona

On 12 August 2016, after representing Inter in pre-season, Bessa joined Hellas Verona on a temporary deal, with an obligation to sign him outright. According to Inter and ''fcinter1908.it'', Bessa was sold for €1.2 million transfer fee.

Genoa (loan)

On 31 January 2018, Bessa was signed by

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

on loan until 30 June 2019.

UAE

On 16 July 2022, Bessa joined

in the United Arab Emirates on a two-year contract.

Playing style

Bessa is a traditional

playmaker In association football, a playmaker is a player who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing passing moves which lead to goals, through their vision, technique, ball control, creativit ...

, whose playing style closely resembles that of a classic number 10; he has been compared to a both

Wesley Sneijder Wesley Sneijder (; born 9 June 1984) is a Dutch retired professional footballer. Due to his elite playmaking ability, Sneijder was considered one of the best midfielders in the world during his prime. A product of the Ajax Youth Academy, he sta ...

and

Xavi Xavier Hernández Creus (born 25 January 1980), known as Xavi is a Spanish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the manager of La Liga club FC Barcelona, Barcelona. Widely con ...

. Bessa is a technically gifted player and excels at playing behind the strikers. He has a low center of gravity but also has the strength and ability to shield off defenders and protect the ball. Due to his eye for goal, he often alternates between playing as a

central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

and as a second striker in a 4–4–1–1 formation, a role which is colloquially known as playing "in the hole", and in which he was deployed in the NextGen series. He has also been used in more advanced positions on occasion, as a centre-forward, and his playing style in this role has occasionally been compared with that of

Wayne Rooney Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is an English professional football manager and former player, who is the manager of Major League Soccer club D.C. United in the United States. He spent much of his playing career as a forward while als ...

. Bessa also has the ability to play in deeper midfield roles, and move up with the play as he dictates it in midfield with his passing, but is also known to be involved more directly in his team's attacking moves. Although he is not known for his speed, his awareness and vision have been highlighted as his best qualities; he has also been noted for his ball control and dribbling skills.

Career statistics

¹ ² ³

Honours

; Inter Primavera *

NextGen series The NextGen Series was a European football club cup competition for under-19 footballers. It was designed to provide players with the opportunity to match themselves against other elite European footballers of their agegroup in a competitive envi ...

(1): 2011–12 * League Champion (1): 2011–12

References

External links

*
Voetbal International profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bessa, Daniel Living people 1993 births Footballers from São Paulo Men's association football midfielders Brazilian men's footballers Brazilian people of Italian descent Brazilian people of Venetian descent Inter Milan players LR Vicenza players S.C. Olhanense players Sparta Rotterdam players Como 1907 players Hellas Verona FC players Genoa CFC players Goiás Esporte Clube players Ittihad Kalba FC players Serie A players Serie B players Primeira Liga players Eerste Divisie players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players UAE Pro League players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates