Benito Carbone

Benito Carbone (born 14 August 1971) is an Italian football manager and former professional player

As a player, he was played as a forward, winger or midfielder, notably playing in the Premier League with Sheffield Wednesday, Aston Villa, Bradford City, Derby County and Middlesbrough, and in Serie A for Torino, Napoli, Inter Milan and Parma.

He also played for Reggina, Casertana, Ascoli, Como, Catanzaro, Vicenza and Pavia.

He made his debut in Serie A with Torino on 15 January 1989 against Pisa, and played a further three games that season.

In that season, Torino were relegated to Serie B, and the following season he played five games in the cadets, without scoring.

He was sent on loan to Reggina the following season, also in Serie B, where he played 31 games scored five goals.

In the 1991–92 season, always in the lower division, he was loaned to Casertana (31 matches with four goals scored).

The following season moved to Ascoli and disputed 28 games and scored six goals.

Carbone returned to Turin in the 1993–94 season.

He made 28 appearances in the league and scored three goals.

In the summer of 1994, he was purchased by Roma, but a few days later was involved in a transfer with Napoli that brought Daniel Fonseca to the Giallorossi.

Carbone was valued at 7.5 billion lire.

With Napoli, he played 29 games and scored four goals in the league, plus 5 games and three goals in the UEFA Cup, wearing the number 10 shirt.

"Benny Carbone fools his opponents with his feints, but also his team-mates!"

In the summer of 1995, he transferred to Inter for 6 billion lire.

In Milan, he played 31 games, scoring just two goals.

He spent much of the following season, from 1996 to 1997, on the bench under Roy Hodgson.

Carbone signed for English Premier League side Sheffield Wednesday for £3 million in October 1996.

At Wednesday, Carbone played alongside his compatriot Paolo Di Canio; Carbone has spoken fondly of playing alongside the Italian striker.

Carbone became the club's highest goalscorer for the 1998–99 season, scoring nine goals, and was voted the fans' favourite player and player of the season.

After a contract dispute with Wednesday at the start of the 1999–2000 season, he was linked with a move away from the club.

He joined Aston Villa for an undisclosed fee, and played for a season at Villa Park, His most memorable moment came when he scored a hat-trick against Leeds United in a 3–2 win in the FA Cup, including a spectacular long range strike from 35 yards; the day before the match, Villa manager John Gregory had refused to let the homesick Italian return to his homeland, insisting he would feel better after scoring against Leeds.

This, added to his strikes against Darlington and Everton, meant he contributed five goals in Villa's cup run that season.

Carbone started in the FA Cup final alongside strike partner Dion Dublin in a 1–0 loss to Chelsea in the 2000 final, with Chelsea winning the match 1–0 after a goal by Roberto Di Matteo; Carbone nearly scored when his goal bound shot was cleared off the line by Frank Leboeuf.

Carbone earned an FA Cup runners-up medal.

At the start of the 2000–01 season, several clubs, including Fiorentina, Napoli, Perugia, Everton, Coventry City and Bradford City, showed an interest in Carbone's services.

Carbone was especially strongly linked with a move to Fiorentina to return to Serie A, as a replacement for playmaker Rui Costa, who was linked with leaving the club.

Bradford City, who had just escaped relegation from the Premiership the previous season, and were aiming to establish themselves in the top flight, made the best offer to Carbone, and he joined the Yorkshire club on a free transfer.

The club also signed Stan Collymore to play alongside him.

Despite some disillusionment over Carbone's wages, he scored some memorable goals and endeared himself to the Valley Parade faithful.

Bradford City were relegated and, although he played the start of the following season with them as well as pledging his future to them, he later moved on loan to first Derby County, where he scored once against former club Aston Villa, and then Middlesbrough, where he again scored once in the league against Aston Villa.

In 2002, Bradford chairman Geoffrey Richmond informed him that the club would fold if they continued to pay his £40,000-a-week wages.

Carbone revealed in later years that he did not want to be known as the man who made Bradford City fold, and he gave up £3.2 million.

Carbone left Bradford and returned to Italy with Como and played for Parma from 2003 to 2005.

At Parma, Carbone revitalised his career under the leadership of Cesare Prandelli.

In 2006, he spent time on loan in the A-League with Sydney FC.

He also represented Italy under-21s eight times during his playing career.

Retiring in 2010, he became manager of Pavia the following season, and has gone on to manage Varese and Vallée d'Aoste, before being hired as a sports consultant by Leeds United in 2014.

He has since managed Ternana, before joining Azerbaijan as assistant coach in 2020.

Carbone started his career at Torino, who discovered him at a youth tournament, while he played for A.S. Scilla Calcio, an amateur youth team of Scilla.