Federico Bonazzoli (born 21 May 1997) 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 le ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

club

Hellas Verona Hellas Verona Football Club, commonly referred to as Hellas Verona or simply Verona, is a professional Italian football club based in Verona, Italy, that currently plays in Serie A. The team won the Serie A Championship in 1984–85. His ...

, on loan from

Salernitana Unione Sportiva Salernitana 1919, commonly referred to as Salernitana, is an Italian football club based in Salerno, Campania. The original club was founded in 1919 and has been reconstituted three times in the course of its history, most recentl ...

Club career

Inter Milan

Bonazzoli played at youth level for Ghedi and Montechiari, before joining

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...

at the age of seven. On 18 May 2014, Bonazzoli made his senior debut against

Chievo Verona Associazione Calcio ChievoVerona, commonly referred to as ChievoVerona or simply Chievo , is a former professional Football in Italy, Italian football club named after and based in Chievo, a suburb of 4,500 inhabitants in Verona, Veneto, and o ...

as a substitute for

Rubén Botta Rubén Alejandro Botta Montero (born 31 January 1990) is an Argentine footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Talleres. Career Rubén Botta made his league debut for Tigre in a 0–0 draw with Boca Juniors on 23 March 2009, at th ...

in the 85th minute of a 1–2 away defeat on the last day of the

season. He became the second youngest footballer to play in

for Inter aged 16 years, 11 months and 27 days, 17 days older than

Massimo Pellegrini Massimo Pellegrini (born 2 January 1966 in Frascati) is a retired Italian professional footballer who played as a midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive r ...

, who debuted in 1982. On 6 November 2014 he made his

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

debut in a 1–1 away draw against

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; frp, Sant-Etiève; oc, Sant Estève, ) is a city and the prefecture of the Loire department in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Saint-Étienne is the t ...

in the group stage, he was replaced by

Joel Obi Joel Chukwuma Obi (born 22 May 1991), known as Joel Obi, is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for the Nigeria national team. Club career Inter After winning the "Allievi Nazionali" Under-17 championship in 2008 und ...

in the 66th minute.

Sampdoria

On 2 February 2015, he signed for fellow league team

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...

for €4.5 million, but would remain at Inter on loan until the end of the season. On 21 January 2016, he was signed by Serie B club

Lanciano Lanciano (; nap, label= Abruzzese, Langiàne ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Chieti, part of the Abruzzo region of central Italy. It has 36,304 inhabitants as of 2011. The town is known for the first recorded Catholic Eucharistic ...

on a season-long loan deal, with an option to purchase. On 22 July, he joined

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...

on loan.

Loan to Torino

On 5 October 2020, Bonazzoli joined

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) 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. T ...

on loan.

Loan to Salernitana

On 3 August 2021, US Salernitana announced the signing of Bonazzoli on a season-long loan with an option to buy. He scored two goals in his Coppa Italia debut win over Reggina.

Salernitana

On 26 July 2022, Bonazzoli signed permanently with Salernitana on a four year contract, for a reported fee of €5 millions.

International career

With the Italy U-17 side he took part at the

2013 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2013 UEFA European Under-17 Championship was the twelfth edition of UEFA's European Under-17 Football Championship since the re-organising of age group competitions in 2002. Slovakia were hosts of the tournament with games taking place at four ...

. He made his debut with the Italy U-21 team on 17 November 2014, in a home friendly match loss 1–0 against

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

, becoming the youngest player to make his debut with the team at the time.

Style of play

Bonazzoli models himself on former Inter forward

Zlatan Ibrahimović Zlatan Ibrahimović (, ; born 3 October 1981) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a striker for club AC Milan and the Sweden national team. Ibrahimović is renowned for his acrobatic strikes and volleys, powerful long-range sho ...

. He is highly rated by Inter fans as a

Christian Vieri Christian "Bobo" Vieri (; born 12 July 1973) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a centre forward. Having been born in Italy, Vieri moved with his family to Australia as a child, before returning to Italy to pursue his ...

-like striker, with a great physique and technical abilities.

Career statistics

Club

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonazzoli, Federico Living people 1997 births Footballers from the Province of Brescia Men's association football forwards Italian men's footballers Inter Milan players UC Sampdoria players SS Virtus Lanciano 1924 players Brescia Calcio players SPAL players Calcio Padova players Torino FC players US Salernitana 1919 players Hellas Verona FC players Serie A players Serie B players Italy men's youth international footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers