Manuel Giandonato (born 10 October 1991) is an Italian

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

midfielder 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 Fermana.

Club career

Juventus

Giandonato began his youth career with Juventus in 2004, and was promoted to the ''Primavera'' (Under 20) squad in 2009. After 7 years in the club's youth system, Giandonato began to earn senior call-ups during the 2009–10 Serie A season, and made 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 Cop ...

appearance on 6 February 2010, coming on as an 83rd-minute substitute for club captain and icon,

Alessandro Del Piero Alessandro Del Piero (; born 9 November 1974) is an Italian former professional footballer who mainly played as a deep-lying forward, although he was capable of playing in several offensive positions. Since 2015, he has worked as a pundit ...

in a league match against Livorno. After making his first team debut, Giandonato helped the ''Primavera'' squad win their second consecutive

Viareggio Viareggio () is a city and ''comune'' in northern Tuscany, Italy, on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. With a population of over 62,000, it is the second largest city within the province of Lucca, after Lucca. It is known as a seaside resort as ...

title in 2010. He made his first start for Juventus on 19 December 2010 against

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

, though he was sent off in the 52nd minute of the match for a

professional foul In various sports, a professional foul is a deliberate act of foul play intended to bring about an advantage for the perpetrator's team. Professional fouls are usually committed to prevent an opponent from scoring. Various sports contain provisi ...

. Giandonato scored a stunning free kick against Manchester United in

Gary Neville Gary Alexander Neville (born 18 February 1975) is an English football pundit and former player. He is also a co-owner of English Football League club Salford City. After retiring from football in 2011, Neville went into punditry and was a comm ...

's testimonial match. On 30 August 2011, Giandonato joined

U.S. Lecce Unione Sportiva Lecce, commonly referred to as Lecce (), is an Italian football club based in Lecce, Apulia. The club play in Serie A in the 2022–23 season, the top level of the Italian football pyramid, having been promoted from Serie B. ...

on a season-long loan deal along with teammate Cristian Pasquato, in order to gain regular first-team experience. He made his debut with Lecce on 11 September 2011, starting in the 0–2 home loss against

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 ...

. On 30 June 2012, Giandonato returned to Juventus after making just 8 first team appearances for the ''Stadio Via del Mare'' outfit. After taking part in much of Juventus' 2012–13 Serie A pre-season, Giandonato was loaned out to

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie 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 season. It had been ...

side,

Vicenza Calcio L.R. Vicenza, commonly referred to as Vicenza, is an Italian football club based in Vicenza, Veneto. Founded in 1902 as Associazione del Calcio in Vicenza, they became Lanerossi Vicenza in 1953, then Vicenza Calcio from 1990 to 2018, a year whi ...

on 27 August 2012 on another season-long loan operation. The loan deal, however, was cut short on 30 January 2013, when Juventus recalled the player in order to loan him out to fellow

side,

A.C. Cesena A.C. Cesena, commonly referred to as Cesena (), was an Italian football club based in Cesena, Emilia-Romagna. The club spent most of its history in professional leagues such as Serie A and Serie B, but went bankrupt and folded in 2018. Another ...

. Between the two clubs, Giandonato was a first team regular for much of the

campaign Campaign or The Campaign may refer to: Types of campaigns * Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beets are harvested and processed *Advertising campaign, a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme * Bl ...

, making 26 league appearances and scoring 1 goal. Giandonato returned to Juventus on 30 June 2013, only to be released less than three months later.

Piacenza

On 16 July 2019, he signed with

Piacenza Piacenza (; egl, label= Piacentino, Piaṡëinsa ; ) is a city and in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with over ...

Olbia

On 10 January 2020 he joined

Olbia Olbia (, ; sc, Terranoa; sdn, Tarranoa) is a city and commune of 60,346 inhabitants (May 2018) in the Italian insular province of Sassari in northeastern Sardinia, Italy, in the historical region of Gallura. Called ''Olbia'' in the Roman age ...

on loan. On 6 August 2020 he moved to Olbia on a permanent basis.

Fermana

On 19 August 2022, Giandonato returned to Fermana.

International career

Giandonato has represented Italy at the international level since 2006, when he began to earn call-ups for the U-16 squad. He has also been capped for the U-17, U-18, U-19 and U-20 teams. On 17 November 2010 he made his debut for the Italy U-21 team in a friendly game against

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

. He has also been a member of the Italy under-21 Serie B representative team on 2 occasions, scoring a goal.

References

External links

*
Profile
on Italian FA website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Giandonato, Manuel 1991 births Living people Footballers from Abruzzo Sportspeople from the Province of Chieti Italian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Juventus FC players US Lecce players LR Vicenza players AC Cesena players Parma Calcio 1913 players SS Juve Stabia players US Salernitana 1919 players US Catanzaro 1929 players Calcio Padova players SS Virtus Lanciano 1924 players US Livorno 1915 players Fermana FC players Piacenza Calcio 1919 players Olbia Calcio 1905 players Italy men's youth international footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers