Lorenzo Lucca (born 10 September 2000) is an Italian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

er who plays as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

for club Udinese. He also represents the Italy under-21 national team.

Club career

Early career

Born in Moncalieri, Lucca began playing youth football as a kid for CBS Scuola Calcio, a local team in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, 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 ...

, and then moved to the

Torino FC 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 ...

youth academy at age eight. He later moved to

Chieri Chieri (; pms, Cher) is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont (Italy), located about southeast of Turin, by rail and by road. It borders the following municipalities: Baldissero Torinese, Pavarolo, Montaldo Torine ...

, a club in the province of Turin, but was discarded and allowed to join Atletico Torino. With Atletico Torino, he made his senior debut at age 16 in the Italian sixth-tier (

Promozione The Promozione (, "promotion") is the sixth level in the Italian football league system. Each individual league winner within the Promozione level progresses to their closest regional league in the Eccellenza level. Depending on each league's lo ...

), scoring two goals. The following season Lucca was signed by

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a th ...

, with whom he made his professional debut in 2018 at the age of 17 during a

Serie C The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

league game against Sambenedettese. Lucca was recalled by Torino in 2018 and loaned to

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. ...

. After scoring 16 goals in 18 games for the Brescia primavera youth side, he was called back at Torino in 2019 and played for the ''Toro'' primavera side for the first half of the 2019–20 season.

Palermo

On 31 January 2020, Lucca left Torino to join

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

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 ...

on a free transfer. He only played three games for the ''Rosanero'' as part of the

2019–20 Serie D The 2019–20 Serie D was the seventy-second edition of the top level Italian non-professional football championship. It represents the fourth tier in the Italian football league system. The season was ended in advance by the Italian Football Fed ...

season which ended in promotion to

for the club, also due to the league halt following the COVID-19 outbreak in the country. In July 2020, Lucca signed his first professional contract, penning a four-year deal with the ''Rosanero''. For the

2020–21 Serie C The 2020–21 Serie C was the seventh season of the unified Serie C division, the third tier of the Italian football league system. Teams The league was initially to be contested by 60 teams, but was reduced to 59 following the exclusion of Trap ...

season, Lucca started as a understudy to Andrea Saraniti, but soon broke into the first team and became the team topscorer by February, breaking the ten-goal threshold after scoring a brace against

Turris ''Turris'' is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Turridae, the turrids. Description The generally large shells are variegated with spots. The fusiform shell is turriculated with a long, sharp spire. The aperture is ...

Pisa

On 21 July 2021, Lucca 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

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...

, penning a five-year deal with the ''Neroazzurri''. He made his debut for Pisa against SPAL and scored his first two goals for the club in a 2–0 victory against

Alessandria Alessandria (; pms, Lissandria ) is a city and ''comune'' in Piedmont, Italy, and the capital of the Province of Alessandria. The city is sited on the alluvial plain between the Tanaro and the Bormida rivers, about east of Turin. Alessandria ...

. After bagging six goals in the first seven matches of the season, he stopped scoring, marking his season tally at six goals in 34

matches.

Loans to Ajax and Udinese

On 5 August 2022,

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

champions Ajax announced to have signed Lucca from Pisa, on a loan deal with an option to buy. He became the first Italian player in Ajax's history. He scored his first goal for the club on 6 November 2022, scoring against

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, whi ...

in a 1-2 loss in the

. After the loan with the Dutch club expired, he returned to Pisa. On 7 July 2023, Lucca joined fellow Italian side

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

on a one-year loan. After a season as a regular for Udinese, on 13 June 2024, the club announced it had signed the player permanently.

International career

On 7 September 2021, he made his debut with the Italy U21 squad, playing as a substitute in the

qualifying Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

match and won 1–0 against

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

. In March 2024 he was called up to the senior

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

squad for a friendly against Ecuador, but had to withdraw through injury.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lucca, Lorenzo 2000 births Living people People from Moncalieri Sportspeople from the Metropolitan City of Turin Italian men's footballers Footballers from Piedmont Men's association football forwards LR Vicenza players Palermo FC players Pisa SC players AFC Ajax players Udinese Calcio players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Serie D players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Italian expatriate men's footballers Italian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands