Giuseppe Bellusci (born 21 August 1989) 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

centre-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

Ascoli Ascoli may refer to: Places in Italy *Ascoli Satriano, a town and ''comune'' in the province of Foggia in the Apulia region *Province of Ascoli Piceno, a province of the Marche region **Ascoli Piceno, a city which is the seat of the province above ...

. A former Italy under-21 international, Bellusci was nicknamed "The Warrior" by

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...

fans.

Club career

Leeds United

2014–15 season

On 12 August 2014, Bellusci signed a one-year loan deal with the option of a permanent deal with English club Leeds United. His debut was delayed due to the Italian bank holiday of

Ferragosto Ferragosto is a public holiday celebrated on August 15th in all of Italy. It originates from Feriae Augusti, the festival of emperor Augustus, who made the 1st of August a day of rest after weeks of hard work on the agricultural sector. It becam ...

on 15 August, leading to international clearance not arriving in time for the following day's fixture against

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. On 21 August 2014, the player signed a permanent deal with Leeds United until June 2018, for a fee of around £1.6 million. On 23 August, Bellusci made his Leeds debut against

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

in a 4–1 defeat at Vicarage Road, with Bellusci giving away a penalty and earning a straight red card on his debut. Bellusci made his home debut at

Elland Road Elland Road is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the home of Premier League club Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the 14th largest football stadium in England. The g ...

on his return from suspension on 30 August against

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

. He scored his first goal in England on 16 September 2014 with a free-kick against

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

in a 3–1 win. On 4 October, Bellusci equalised with a left-footed volley in a 1–1 draw against

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

. On 22 December, Bellusci was charged by The FA on an allegation of using racist language towards Norwich City striker Cameron Jerome during the teams' 1–1 draw on 21 October; Bellusci and Leeds United denied the allegations. On 7 February 2015, at an FA hearing, Bellusci was found 'not guilty', as he had threatened Jerome in Italian to give him a black eye, with the word ''nero'' being misheard. On 20 January, Bellusci was given a straight red card when he gave away a penalty against Bournemouth, however pictures showed the foul to be outside the box, Bournemouth striker Yann Kermorgant missed the resulting penalty to earn Leeds a 1–0 victory. The red card was Bellusci's second red card of the season which resulted in an automatic two-match ban. On 18 April 2015, Bellusci was one of six

Massimo Cellino Massimo Cellino (; born 28 July 1956) is an Italian entrepreneur and football club owner. Through his family trust Eleonora Sport Ltd he is the owner of Italian club Brescia Calcio, and is the former owner of italian club Cagliari, and English cl ...

signings (alongside

Mirco Antenucci Mirco Antenucci (born 8 September 1984) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Bari. Club career Giulianova Antenucci began his professional career in 2002, with Serie C1 club, Giulianova, where in two seasons wit ...

Marco Silvestri Marco Silvestri (born 2 March 1991) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Serie A club Udinese. Before joining Verona in 2017, he played in England for Leeds United and in Italy for Chievo, Reggiana, Padova and Cagl ...

, Souleymane Doukara,

Dario Del Fabro Dario Del Fabro (March 24, 1995 Alghero, Italy) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Cittadella. Club career Cagliari and loans Del Fabro was born in Alghero and grew up in Sassari. He started his career at Ca ...

Edgar Çani Edgar Junior Çani (born 22 July 1989) is an Albanian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Legnano. Club career Early career Çani was born in Tirana, Albania but grew up in Città della Pieve in the Perugia central Italy, afte ...

) who controversially pulled out of the squad with an 'injury' the day before a 2–1 loss against

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

. On 2 May 2015, Bellusci's free-kick against Bournemouth was nominated for Leeds United's goal of the season at the official end of 2014–15 season awards ceremony, but lost out to eventual winner Rudy Austin's volleyed goal against Watford.

2015–16 season

On 2 July 2015, Bellusci's agent Silvio Pagliari revealed that Bellusci and Antenucci would be staying at Leeds and that owner Massimo Cellino said both players were going to be important players for the 2015–16 season. On 27 September 2015, Bellusci scored an own goal for Leeds in a 3–0 defeat to Middlesbrough at the Riverside. On 7 January 2016, Leeds manager Steve Evans revealed that the club had rejected two bids from overseas sides for Bellusci and that he wanted to keep him at the club. Bellusci's costly error against Rotherham United led to a red card for goalkeeper

and resulted in Bellusci playing the rest of the match in goal for Leeds, with Evans' side out of substitutions, Bellusci was also unable to save the resulting penalty in a 2–1 defeat. In the following game, Bellusci gave away an injury time penalty which was converted by Queens Park Rangers player

Tjaronn Chery Tjaronn Inteff Chefren Chery (born 4 June 1988) is a professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Israeli club Maccabi Haifa. Born in the Netherlands, he represents the Suriname national team. Early life Chery was born in th ...

. After a series of high-profile mistakes throughout the season and unrest with the crowd, Bellusci was dropped from the squad by head coach Steve Evans after walking out of the training ground after learning he was due to be a substitute in the match against Hull City on 23 April. Bellusci also took to Twitter to post statistics as to argue the Leeds defence was more solid with him in the team rather than his other teammates. Bellusci remained absent from the final three Leeds squads of the 2015–16 season named by Steve Evans.

Loan to Empoli

On 1 July 2016, with Bellusci missing the beginning of pre-season for Leeds United for 'personal reasons', he returned to Italy, joining Serie A side

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Roman times. The comm ...

on loan for the 2016/17 season with the option of a permanent deal. He made his Empoli debut against Udinese on 28 August in a 2–0 defeat. On 12 September, Bellusci scored the winner for Empoli in their Serie A game against

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 ...

in a 2–1 victory. Empoli were relegated 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 ...

with Bellusci playing 33 games for the side.

Return to Leeds

On 6 June 2017, with Leeds United beginning pre-season under new head coach Thomas Christiansen, it was announced that Bellusci was seeking a transfer away from Leeds and would not return to the club for the start of pre-season after being granted extra leave to find a new club. On 5 July, after being unable to find a new club, Bellusci returned to the side and played for Leeds in their first pre-season friendly in a 4–2 win against

Harrogate Town Harrogate Town A.F.C. is a professional association football club in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, which competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed the Sulphurites, due to the ...

. On 8 July 2017, Bellusci was booed by the travelling Leeds fans in their 5–1 pre-season victory over Guiseley, after being substituted at half time, Bellusci was embroiled in an argument when walking past the Leeds support who were chanting him to leave the club. Bellusci later tweeted "Fortunately in this world we have the children to set an example to the adults!" After new head coach Thomas Christiansen revealed Bellusci would not be part of his plans, on 18 July 2017, Leeds announced the termination of Bellusci's contract by mutual consent.

Palermo

On 30 July 2017, Bellusci signed for

side

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 ...

signing a 3-year contract with the club.

Monza

Following Palermo's bankruptcy, on 25 July 2019 he signed a 3-year contract with

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 ...

Ascoli

On 4 January 2022, Bellusci was loaned out to

for six months. He joined them on a permanent deal on 10 July.

International career

On 25 March 2009, he made his debut with the Italy U21 team in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. Bellusci played with future

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 ...

internationals such as Mario Balotelli and

Andrea Ranocchia Andrea Ranocchia (; born 16 February 1988) is a former Italian professional footballer who played as a defender. Club career Early career Born in Assisi in the province of Perugia, Ranocchia started his career at Perugia then in Arezzo. Ranocch ...

during his time with the under-21 team.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Monza *

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 ...

Group A: 2019–20

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellusci, Giuseppe 1989 births Living people People from Trebisacce Footballers from the Province of Cosenza Italian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Ascoli Calcio 1898 FC players Catania FC players Leeds United F.C. players Empoli FC players Palermo FC players AC Monza players Serie A players English Football League players Serie B players Serie C players Italian expatriate men's footballers Italian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England Italy men's youth international footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers