Gaetano D'Agostino (; born 3 June 1982) is an Italian former 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 lea ...

and current

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

. Usually a

playmaker In association football, a playmaker is a footballer who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing Passing (association football), passing moves which lead to Goal (sport), goals, through ...

, D'Agostino is best known for his incisive passing.

Club career

Early career

D'Agostino was brought up in the

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , 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 province. The ...

youth system, in

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

youth system only for two seasons because he was progressing enormously and, in 2001, went to

Bari Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and ...

with co-ownership rights as part of the deal that brought

Antonio Cassano Antonio Cassano (; born 12 July 1982) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a forward. A talented and technically gifted player, he was usually deployed as a supporting forward, but could also play as an attacking midfielde ...

to Roma. He was tagged for 5 billion Italian lire for 50% of the rights. He then came back to Roma for €1,291,142 and signed a new three-year contract in June 2003 in but did not figure much.

Messina

In January 2005 he was loaned to

Messina Messina ( , ; ; ; ) is a harbour city and the capital city, capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of 216,918 inhabitants ...

on loan with option to sign in co-ownership deal for €750,000. In half a season at Messina, he made 42 appearances and scored 4 goals, being instrumental for the club's impressive performances in the Serie A league, including a seventh place in 2004–05, the best top flight placement in Messina history. In June 2006 Messina bought the remaining rights for €60,000.

Udinese

On 7 July 2006, he was bought by

Udinese Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sport ...

for a reported €1.2 million, where he firmly established himself as a regular, also achieving a place in the Italy national team during his stay with the

Friuli Friuli (; ; or ; ; ) is a historical region of northeast Italy. The region is marked by its separate regional and ethnic identity predominantly tied to the Friulians, who speak the Friulian language. It comprises the major part of the autono ...

-based side. He made sensational performances during the 2008–2009 Serie A season.

Fiorentina

On 3 June 2010, he was sold to

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

for a reported fee between €9 and 10 million. ''La Viola'' later announced they signed him in a co-ownership deal, for €5.75 million. He made his debut on 29 August 2010, scoring Fiorentina's only goal in a 1–1 draw at home against

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

. After the injury of Riccardo Montolivo, D'Agostino partnered with

Marco Donadel Marco Donadel (born 21 April 1983) is an Italian Association football, football coach and a former midfielder. He is currently the interim head coach of Major League Soccer club CF Montréal. Club career Milan Donadel is a youth product of A.C. ...

as the central midfielders.

Joining Siena via Udinese

In the middle of 2011, D'Agostino returned to Udinese after they won his 50% rights in a blind auction, Udinese winning with a bid of €110,000 to €50,000. D'Agostino said that “It still hurts a little that Fiorentina didn’t keep me,” and expressed his desire to remain in Florence, having earlier said he loved living in the city. On 7 July, Siena agreed a deal to sign the playmaker. He left Siena at the end of the 2013–14 season, after the club declared bankruptcy.

International career

D'Agostino was a member of the Italy U-21 squad, making 17 appearances and scoring 4 goals. He received his first senior call-up in November 2008, but did not play, making his debut on 6 June 2009 in a friendly match against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

Coaching career

After retirement, he took over a head coaching role at

Serie D The Serie D () is the highest level of semi-professional football in Italy, and the fourth tier of the Italian national league system. It sits beneath the third and lowest fully professional league, Serie C, and feeds in to it through promotion ...

amateurs Anzio in 2016. In June 2017 he was named new head coach of

Lega Pro The Lega Italiano Calcio Professionistico (Italian for Professional Football Italian League), commonly known as Lega Pro (Pro League), is the governing body that runs the third tier of professional football competitions in Italy, the Serie C. I ...

club Virtus Francavilla. On 12 June 2018, he was appointed as coach of

Alessandria Alessandria (; ) is a city and commune in Piedmont, Italy, and the capital of the Province of Alessandria. It is also the largest municipality of the region. The city is sited on the alluvial plain between the Tanaro and the Bormida rivers, ...

, signing a two-year contract. He left the club on 17 February 2019. On 4 October 2019, he was hired as head coach of

Serie C The Serie C (), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, 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 ...

club

Lecco Lecco (, , ; ) is a city of approximately 47,000 inhabitants in Lombardy, Northern Italy, north of Milan. It lies at the end of the south-eastern branch of Lake Como (the branch is named ''Branch of Lecco'' / ''Ramo di Lecco''). The Bergamasqu ...

. On 27 June 2021, he joined Vibonese. He was sacked on 14 February 2022, with Vibonese in last place in the league table.

References

External links

Profile at La Gazetta dello Sport 2009–10
{{DEFAULTSORT:D'Agostino, Gaetano 1982 births Living people Footballers from Palermo Men's association football midfielders Italian men's footballers Italy men's youth international footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Italy men's international footballers AS Roma players SSC Bari players ACR Messina players Udinese Calcio players ACF Fiorentina players Siena FC SSD players Delfino Pescara 1936 players Fidelis Andria 2018 players Benevento Calcio players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Italian football managers US Alessandria Calcio 1912 managers Calcio Lecco 1912 managers Serie C managers 21st-century Italian sportsmen