Giulio Donati (born 5 February 1990) 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 ...

who plays as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for club

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...

Club career

Inter Milan

Primavera and first team

Born in

Pietrasanta Pietrasanta is a town and ''comune'' on the coast of northern Tuscany in Italy, in the province of Lucca. Pietrasanta is part of Versilia, on the last foothills of the Apuan Alps, about north of Pisa. The town is located off the coast, where the ...

, the

Province of Lucca The province of Lucca ( it, provincia di Lucca) is a province in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Lucca. It has an area of and a total population of about 390,000. There are 33 ''comuni'' (singular: ''comune'') in the pro ...

, Donati started his career at hometown club Lucchese. In July 2008, he was signed by

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 ...

and played for its Primavera team (under-20 youth team). At the start of 2009–10 season, Donati was called up to the first team for a number of friendlies. On 16 December 2009, he made his debut against

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (pronou ...

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 ...

. With both teams resting numbers of regular starters, the match ended in a 1–0 win. He subsequently also received call ups to the next two competitive matches (against Lazio and Chievo) and started a mid-season friendly.

Loan to Lecce

On 25 June 2010, he was loaned to newly promoted

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 ...

team

Lecce Lecce ( ); el, label=Griko, Luppìu, script=Latn; la, Lupiae; grc, Λουπίαι, translit=Loupíai), group=pron is a historic city of 95,766 inhabitants (2015) in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Lecce, the province ...

with option to sign him in a co-ownership deal. He made 16 appearances for Lecce in a season in which the Salentini were relegated. He was also a regular for the Italian u20 and u21 sides during the season. Lecce did not take up the option to sign him on a co-ownership deal.

Loan to Padova

Donati spend the 2011–12 season on loan at Serie B side

Calcio Padova Calcio Padova, commonly referred to as Padova, is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Padua, Veneto. Founded in 1910, Padova currently play in , having last been in Serie A in 1996. The team's official colours are white and red. ...

. On 25 August, 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 with Padova in the away draw against

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, ...

. There he found regular first team football and made a total of 30 appearances.

Loan to Grosseto

The 2012–13 season was another in which Donati was sent on loan again to a Serie B side, this time

U.S. Grosseto F.C. Unione Sportiva Grosseto 1912 is an Italian association football club, based in the city of Grosseto, Tuscany. The club was founded in 1912 as ''Unione Ginnico Sportiva Grossetana''. The team's most associated nickname is ''grifone'', after it ...

He made 27 appearances for Grosseto and made two assists throughout the course of the season.

Bayer Leverkusen

On 21 June 2013,

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, t ...

agreed a fee of €3m with

. He took part in 23 of the 34

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

games in the 2013–14 season, assisting once in a 2–1 win over

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC (), and sometimes referred to as Hertha Berlin, Hertha BSC Berlin, or simply Hertha, is a German professional football club based in the locality of Westend of the borough of Charl ...

. He also made six

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 ...

appearances in a run that saw Bayer knocked out by

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

in the round of 16.

Mainz 05

He signed for

Mainz 05 1. Fußball- und Sportverein Mainz 05 e. V., usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05, Mainz 05 () or simply Mainz (), is a German sports club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. 1. FSV Mainz 05 play in the Bundesliga, the top ...

on 25 January 2016 on a contract running until 2019 for an undisclosed fee. He left the club at the end of the 2018–19 season after his contract expired.

Return to Lecce

On 16 December 2019, Donati joined

club

after eight years. He played 20 league games, scoring one goal.

Monza

On 12 August 2020, Donati moved to newly-promoted

side Monza on a three-year contract.

Career statistics

Club

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donati, Giulio 1990 births Living people People from Pietrasanta Sportspeople from the Province of Lucca Footballers from Tuscany Italian footballers Association football fullbacks S.S.D. Lucchese 1905 players Inter Milan players U.S. Lecce players Calcio Padova players F.C. Grosseto S.S.D. players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players 1. FSV Mainz 05 players A.C. Monza players Serie A players Serie B players Bundesliga players Italy youth international footballers Italy under-21 international footballers Italian expatriate footballers Italian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany