Gianluca Gaetano (; born 5 May 2000) 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 an

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 ...

or a

left winger 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 club

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. He is an academy graduate of

, having joined the club in 2011, and the youngest-ever player in the club's history to have signed a professional contract with the club at the age of 16. On 10 December 2019, Gaetano made his debut in

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

against Belgian side

Genk Genk () is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality only comprises the town of Genk itself. I ...

Early and personal life

Gianluca Gaetano was born and raised in

Cimitile Cimitile is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Naples in the Italian region Campania, located about 25 km northeast of Naples. As of 31 December 2017, it had a population of 7 172 and an area of 2.74 km2.All demograph ...

, in the Greater

area. He was born into a family of athletes, his older brother Felice Gaetano is also a professional football player, who also came through the Napoli youth system, he also has 2 cousins Michele Peluso and Felice Raiola both of whom are professional footballers. A lifelong supporter of

, Gaetano joined the

Campania Campania (, also , , , ) is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islands and the i ...

club when he was just eleven years old and dreams of one day becoming their Captain.

Club career

Early youth career

Born in

in Southern Italy just North-East of

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, Gaetano got his football start with the local team ASD Future Boys di Cimitile at the age of five. During this time at the club, he played with his older brother Felice. While at ASD Future Boys di Cimitile, he along with his older brother were spotted by a

scout, joining their youth system in 2011. Gaetano joined the youth academy of

in 2010,5, and worked his way up through their youth categories. In the 2017/18 Season Gaetano went on to score 17 goals with 14 assists in all youth competitions forming a formidable partnership with fellow youth player Ciro Palmieri. In the 2018/2019 season Gaetano managed to score 5 goals in 6 games in the

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the youth teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions League ...

where he stood out against some of the best youth in Europe, his first goal in the competition would come in the 94th minute in a game against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

that ended in a 1-1 draw, he also managed to score a hat trick against Red Star Belgrade in a game Napoli went on to win 5-3. He went on to Captain the Youth team and scored 22 goals with 8 assists in all competitions which was enough for him to be called up by the Napoli first team by manager

Carlo Ancelotti Carlo Ancelotti , (born 10 June 1959) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of La Liga club Real Madrid. Regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, Ancelotti is the most decorated manager ...

and get his first professional debut for the

first team.

Napoli

In 2016 Gaetano became the youngest ever player to sign a professional contract with Napoli at the age of 16. Gaetano made his professional debut with Napoli in a 2-0

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

win over

U.S. Sassuolo Calcio Unione Sportiva Sassuolo Calcio, commonly referred to as Sassuolo (), is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Sassuolo, Emilia-Romagna. Their colours are black and green, hence the nickname ''Neroverdi'' (literally "black and gre ...

on 13 January 2019. On 12 May 2019, he was called on by

coach

in which he made his first ever

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 ...

debut in a game against

S.P.A.L. Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor, commonly known as S.P.A.L. (), is a professional football club based in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The team plays in Serie B, the second tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in 1907, since ...

, which would be marked in tragedy, with his grandmother Carmela dying of a heart attack after a confrontation with neighbours during celebrations. On 10 Dec 2019 Gaetano would make his first Champions League debut in a home game against

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

side Genk which

went on to win 4-0 a progressed to the last 16 of the competition.

Loans to Cremonese

On 21 January 2020, he joined

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 ...

club

Cremonese Cremona (, also ; ; lmo, label= Cremunés, Cremùna; egl, Carmona) is a city and ''comune'' in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po river in the middle of the ''Pianura Padana'' (Po Valley). It is the capital of the ...

on loan. On 16 February 2020 he scored his first goal for the club (and in the professional football) in a 5-0 win against

Trapani Trapani ( , ; scn, Tràpani ; lat, Drepanum; grc, Δρέπανον) is a city and municipality (''comune'') on the west coast of Sicily, in Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Trapani. Founded by Elymians, the city is still an impor ...

. On 18 September 2020 the loan was renewed for the 2020–21 season. After appearing for Napoli in the first two games of the

2021–22 Serie A The 2021–22 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 120th season of top-tier Italian football, the 90th in a round-robin tournament, and the 12th since its organization under an own league committee, the Lega Serie ...

season, on 31 August 2021 he returned to Cremonese on a new loan.

International career

Gaetano is a youth international for Italy he has represented Italy at almost every youth level, and most recently represented the Italy U19s in a pair of friendlies in October 2018.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

Profile
at the S.S.C. Napoli website
Official Instagram Page
* *
FIGC U17 ProfileFIGC U19 Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaetano, Gianluca 2000 births Living people Footballers from Naples Italian footballers Italy under-21 international footballers Italy youth international footballers Association football midfielders S.S.C. Napoli players U.S. Cremonese players Serie A players Serie B players