Fabio Quagliarella
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Fabio Quagliarella | ||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Striker | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Udinese | ||
| Number | 27 | ||
| ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of September 12, 2007 (UTC) | |||
Fabio Quagliarella (IPA: ['faːbjo kwaʎ.ʎa'ɾɛl.la]) (born 31 October 1983 in Castellammare di Stabia, province of Naples) is an Italian football striker currently playing for Udinese.
Football career
Early career
Quagliarella started his career at Torino. He made his Serie A debut against Piacenza Calcio on 14 May, 2000. And later made 4 appearances at Serie A 2001-02 season.
After being loaned to a lower division club, including Florentia Viola, at that time of Serie C2. He returned to Torino in 2004, and scored 8 goals in Serie B, plus one goal against Ascoli in the promotion playoff's first legs. But financial problems forced Torino to stay in Serie B, which allowed players to leave for free.
Return to Serie A
Quagliarella joined Udinese Calcio on summer 2005, and the club sold half of the registration rights to newly promoted Ascoli, as part of "loan" deal.
He stayed at Ascoli for just a year. He then "loaned" to U.C. Sampdoria, by the transfer of the Ascoli's half of the registration rights, for whom he had scored 13 goals in the 2006-2007 season, including two spectacular ones against Atalanta as well as La Gazzetta dello Sport's goal of the week against Chievo. He also scored one goal in seven matches in the Coppa Italia in 2006-2007.
On June 22, 2007 Udinese took the full ownership of the player from Sampdoria by blind auction between the two club.
He signed a improved contract along with Handanovič, Gyan which last until 30 June, 2012.
International career
Though only small in height, this young striker seems to have a great deal of potential. He seemed to be set for his first Azzurri call up for a friendly against Romania in February, but the match was cancelled due to fan riots in Serie A that weekend. Later he got his first call up to the Azzurri in March for a Euro 2008 qualifier against Scotland, and made his debut as a substitute (substite Luca Toni in 87 min.). In Kaunas on June 6, 2007, on his first start for Italy, he scored his first two goals for them in a 2-0 win over Lithuania in a vital Euro 2008 qualifier.