Kevin Lasagna (; born 10 August 1992) 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 striker for 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 ...

Club career

Early career

Born in

San Benedetto Po San Benedetto Po ( Lower Mantovano: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Mantua in the Italian region Lombardy, located about southeast of Milan and about southeast of Mantua. It is best known as the location of the Polirone Abbe ...

, Lasagna started his career with Governolese near his home town. In 2012, Lasagna signed for

Serie D The Serie D () is the top level of semi-professional football in the country. The fourth tier of the Italian league system, the competition sits beneath the third professional league, Serie C. It is administered by the Lega Nazionale Dilettant ...

team

Cerea Cerea is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Verona, Veneto, northern Italy. History From 923 AD until 1223 Cerea was a ''castrum'' (fortification). On 1223 Cerea it became a "comune" but, a year after, it was plundered because of the war be ...

and scored 7 times in 35 games throughout the 2012–13 season. Lasagna joined Este for the 2013–14 and scored 21 times in 33 games making him one of the most sought after players of the lower leagues.

Carpi

In July 2014, Lasagna 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 ...

side

Carpi Carpi may refer to: Places * Carpi, Emilia-Romagna, a large town in the province of Modena, central Italy * Carpi (Africa), a city and former diocese of Roman Africa, now a Latin Catholic titular bishopric People * Carpi (people), an ancie ...

. Lasagna made his Serie B debut on 13 September, as a substitute in the 1–1 draw against Crotone. On 15 November 2014, Lasagna scored his first Carpi goal, wrapping up a 5–2 win against

Cittadella Cittadella ( vec, Sitadeła) is a medieval walled city in the province of Padua, northern Italy, founded in the 13th century as a military outpost of Padua. The surrounding wall has been restored and is in circumference with a diameter of around ...

, to send Carpi to the top of Serie B. In January 2017, it was announced that Lasagna would join

Udinese Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a ...

for the 2017–18 season and finish the 2016–17 season with Carpi. Udinese reportedly paid Carpi a transfer fee of €4.5 million plus possible bonuses.

Udinese

Lasagna scored on his debut for

, a 3–2

cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

win 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 12 August 2017. His first

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 ...

goal came on 17 September, in a 2–1 loss to

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. In December, he scored in five consecutive league matches, becoming the first Udinese player to do so since

Antonio Di Natale Antonio Di Natale (; born 13 October 1977) is an Italian fotball coach and former professional player who played as a striker. After being a member of the Empoli youth side since 1994, Di Natale started his professional career with the Empol ...

in 2010. He concluded his first season with 14 goals in 32 appearances. Lasagna was named

club captain The team captain of an association football team, sometimes known as the skipper, is a team member chosen to be the on-pitch leader of the team; they are often one of the older or more experienced members of the squad, or a player that can heavi ...

in 2019, following the departure of previous captain

Valon Behrami Valon Behrami (born 19 April 1985) is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Behrami was capped 83 times at international level by the Switzerland national team, playing at four FIFA World Cups, UEFA Euro 2008 and UE ...

from the team. In December 2020, he was replaced in that role by Rodrigo De Paul.

Verona

On 26 January 2021, Lasagna joined

on a one-and-a-half-year loan deal containing a conditional obligation to buy based on his performances.

International career

On 9 October 2018, Lasagna was called to the Italy senior team by manager

Roberto Mancini Roberto Mancini (; born 27 November 1964) is an Italian football manager and former player. He is currently the manager of the Italy national team. As a player, Mancini operated as a deep-lying forward, and was best known for his time at Samp ...

as a replacement for the injured

Simone Zaza Simone Zaza (born 25 June 1991) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a striker, most recently for club Torino. Zaza began his professional club career with Atalanta in 2008, where he remained for two seasons. In 2010, he moved ...

, for the upcoming

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...

match against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

on 14 October. He made his senior international debut during the match, coming on as a late substitute in the eventual 1–0 away win, and set up Cristiano Biraghi's injury time winner with a header following a corner, which secured Italy's safety in the group. He made his first start for Italy on 20 November, in a 1–0 friendly win over the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, held in Genk.

Style of play

A tall and quick left-footed forward, Lasagna's natural role is that of a main striker in the

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics * Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...

. Lasagna is capable of playing as a

second striker Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

, or as 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 ...

in an attacking trident, due to his ability to both score goals and play off of his teammates. His best qualities are his pace, ball control when dribbling at speed, physical strength, and offensive movement, all of which enable him to lose markers and attack spaces from behind with runs both on and off the ball. He is also known for his striking ability across goal with his left foot while on the run.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Carpi *

: 2014–15

References

External links

*
FIGC Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lasagna, Kevin 1992 births Living people Men's association football forwards Italian footballers A.C. Carpi players Udinese Calcio players Hellas Verona F.C. players Serie A players Serie B players Serie D players Eccellenza players Sportspeople from the Province of Mantua Italy men's international footballers Footballers from Lombardy