Roberto Insigne (born 11 May 1994) 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 a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for club

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 ...

Club career

Napoli

Insigne initially chose the shirt number 42 at

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 ...

, as his older brother and Napoli teammate Lorenzo wore the number 24, but later chose the number 30, and finally the number 94, as it represented the year of his birth. After playing for the Napoli Primavera side in the club's youth system, he made his professional debut for the club's senior side under manager

Walter Mazzarri Walter Mazzarri (; born 1 October 1961) is an Italian former footballer and head coach, most recently in charge of Serie A club Cagliari. After a 14-year playing career with Italian clubs including Reggiana and Empoli, Mazzarri coached several ...

in the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

on 6 December 2012, in a 2–0 home defeat 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 ...

; his first appearance in

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 ...

came on 13 January 2013, as he appeared as a very late substitute in a 3–0 home win against

, playing alongside his older brother. On 22 July 2013 he was sent on loan from Napoli to

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part o ...

, at the request of the club's coach, and former Napoli striker,

Cristiano Lucarelli Cristiano Lucarelli (; born 4 October 1975) is an Italian football manager and a former player who played as a striker from 1992 until 2012. He was most recently the manager of Serie B club Ternana. Club career Lucarelli was born in Livorno, I ...

. In August 2014, he was sent on loan from Napoli to

Reggina Reggina 1914 S.r.l., commonly referred to as Reggina, is an Italian football club based in Reggio Calabria. Founded in 1914, they currently play in Serie B, and play their home matches at the 27,763 seater Stadio Oreste Granillo. They are nic ...

. On 15 July 2015, both Insigne and his young Napoli attacking teammate Gennaro Tutino were sent on loan to

Avellino Avellino () is a town and ''comune'', capital of the province of Avellino in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is situated in a plain surrounded by mountains east of Naples and is an important hub on the road from Salerno to Benevento. ...

with an option to buy. On 12 January 2017, Insigne was sent on loan from Napoli to

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

Latina Latina or Latinas most often refers to: * Latinas, a demographic group in the United States * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America. *Latin Americans Latina and Latinas may also refer t ...

, where he was assigned the number 9 shirt. On 23 July 2017, it was announced that Insigne would be loaned to newly promoted Serie B side

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

for the 2017–18 season.

Benevento

On 21 July 2018, Insigne joined with

side

Benevento Benevento (, , ; la, Beneventum) is a city and ''comune'' of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the ...

on loan until 30 June 2019. On 23 June 2019, Insigne signed permanently with Benevento. On 29 June 2020, Insigne helped Benevento secure promotion to the

with seven matches to spare. At the time, Benevento had won 23 of their 31 league games and lost just once, and had a 24-point advantage over nearest rivals

Crotone Crotone (, ; nap, label= Crotonese, Cutrone or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( grc, Κρότων or ; la, Crotona) in Magna Graecia, it was known as Cotrone from the Middle Ages until ...

and

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 ...

. On 25 October 2020, Insigne scored in Benenvento's clash with his former club Napoli; Insigne's brother Lorenzo was also on the scoresheet as Napoli won 2–1. It was Insigne's first goal ever in the top division of Italian football. It was also only the second time in

history that two brothers have scored against each other in a game; Hungarian pair

István István () is a Hungarian language equivalent of the name Stephen or Stefan. It may refer to: People with the given name Nobles, palatines and judges royal * Stephen I of Hungary (c. 975–1038), last grand prince of the Hungarians and first ki ...

and

Ferenc Nyers Ferenc Nyers (also known as ''Étienne Nyers''; born 3 March 1927) is a retired French professional association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. He was active in France, Italy, Hungary and Colombia. ...

did the same back in 1949, while playing for

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

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

respectively.

Frosinone

On 27 August 2022, Insigne signed a two-year contract with

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 ...

Palermo

On 12 July 2023, Insigne signed for Serie B club

on a three-year deal.

International career

At international level, Insigne has represented the Italy U-18, U-19, and U-21 sides.

Style of play

Regarded as a talented and promising prospect, Insigne is a diminutive, quick, creative, and skilful left footed forward, with good technique, an eye for goal, and a small, slender physical build, who is capable of playing anywhere along the front line. Due to his ability to both set up and score goals, he usually plays in a free role 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 ...

, which allows him to operate on either flank or in the centre of the attacking third, although he frequently also plays as a right winger, a position which allows him to cut into the centre and

curl cURL (pronounced like "curl", UK: , US: ) is a computer software project providing a library (libcurl) and command-line tool (curl) for transferring data using various network protocols. The name stands for "Client URL". History cURL was fi ...

shots on goal with his stronger left foot. He has also been deployed 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 as a main

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 ...

on occasion.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Perugia *

Lega Pro 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 ...

: 2013–14 Benevento *

: 2019–20 Frosinone *Serie B:

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Personal life

Roberto is the younger brother of footballer

Lorenzo Insigne Lorenzo Insigne (; born 4 June 1991) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer club Toronto FC and the Italy national team. Insigne began his professional career with čelik Niksic in 2009, making his ...

, who plays for

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BMO ...

. His oldest and youngest brothers, Antonio and Marco, also play football, in the Italian amateur divisions. Roberto Insigne is married to Elisabetta; their daughter, Patrizia, was born on 22 November 2016.

References

External links

*
Roberto Insigne FIGC Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Insigne, Roberto 1994 births Living people Footballers from the Metropolitan City of Naples Italian men's footballers Italy men's youth international footballers Men's association football forwards SSC Napoli players AC Perugia Calcio players LFA Reggio Calabria players US Avellino 1912 players Latina Calcio 1932 players Parma Calcio 1913 players Benevento Calcio players Frosinone Calcio players Palermo FC players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players