Davide Somma

Davide Enrico Somma (born 26 March 1985) is a South African former footballer who played as a striker.

He played for the South Africa national team as a striker and his most notable spell was at Leeds United.

He played one year of college soccer at Tyler Junior College in 2004, scoring 13 goals and registering nine assists, and being named to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region XIV first team.

After one season with Tyler, Somma enrolled at Edukick (great camp), an international soccer school program, and joined the youth system of the Spanish team Logroñés, his Italian passport giving him the opportunity to pursue a career in Europe.

Somma signed a four-year contract with Italian Serie A club Perugia in 2004.

However, Somma never played a game for the team as Perugia's president bankrupted the club and it folded six months later.

Somma transferred to Pro Vasto, and played 39 games for the team between 2005 and 2007.

He later played for Olbia before returning to the United States in 2008.

Somma signed a developmental contract with the San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer in September 2008 along with Michael Ghebru and made three regular season appearances for the club during the 2008 season, in addition to five reserve team appearances in which he notched two goals and three assists.

In December 2008 he joined the Generation Adidas team in London for a three-game tour of England and scored two goals for the squad as they faced the reserve teams of Reading, Chelsea, and West Ham United.

In February 2009, Somma signed a senior contract with the San Jose Earthquakes, but was placed on waivers on 26 May.

Whilst at San Jose, he was a teammate of former Leeds United player Darren Huckerby, who encouraged Somma to find a new club in England.

In July 2009, Somma took part in a trial with Queens Park Rangers and played in a pre-season fixture as a winger.

After his trial at QPR, Somma took part in a trial at Leeds United, and earned an extended spell at the club.

He scored in a pre-season friendly against Newport County and also scored in friendlies against Newcastle United and Hull City, and signed a permanent contract with the club in September 2009 on a one-year deal, with an option in the club's favour to extend the contract for a further season.

In signing for Leeds, Somma became the fifth South African to play for Leeds following Gerry Francis, Albert Johanneson, Lucas Radebe and Phil Masinga.

In an LUTV interview, Somma said that, due to his Italian heritage, he and teammate Mike Grella can speak to each other in Italian.

Somma made his debut for Leeds in a reserve game against Rotherham United, and marked the game by scoring two goals.

Somma was named in the Leeds squad for the Football League Trophy game against Darlington, and made his debut when he came on as a second-half substitute.

His debut ended prematurely when he suffered a hamstring injury, which meant Leeds had to play the rest of the game with 10 men having used all their substitutions.

After working his way back from injury and scoring regularly in the reserves, Somma returned to the Leeds first team squad when he was named as a substitute for a game against Leyton Orient on 23 November 2009.

In November 2010 Somma made his debut for the South Africa national side against United States.

He now works as a Junior Coach for Long Island United.

Somma also serves as the men’s club soccer coach for Stony Brook University.

Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Somma started playing football at the age of five for the Edenvale Football Club in his native Johannesburg.

After moving to the United States with his family when he was 12, he attended Riverview High School in Sarasota, Florida, and played club soccer with the Sarasota Storm and St. Pete Raiders.

On 26 November, Somma joined Chesterfield on loan until January 2010.

Somma was given squad number 32, and made his Football League debut for the team on 2 December, starting a game against Crewe Alexandra.

Somma had a penalty saved by Crewe goalkeeper Steve Phillips on his debut.

Somma missed a number of Chesterfield's games through injury.

After Somma's one-month loan spell expired on 5 January 2010, he returned to Leeds.

He immediately returned to a Leeds first team squad when he was named on the bench in the FA Cup replay against Tottenham Hotspur.

After impressing whilst out on loan to Lincoln, Somma was handed a new one-year extension to his contract at Leeds.

On 25 February 2010, Somma joined Chris Sutton's Lincoln City on a month's loan to gain some more first

-team experience and scored on his debut against Crewe Alexandra two days later.

His second goal came against Hereford United.

Somma's third goal came against Dagenham & Redbridge in the 1–1 draw.

His fourth and fifth goals came in the same game against Torquay United, with Somma scoring a brace which helped earn a 3–2 win for Lincoln.

He had scored five goals in five games during his loan spell, and thus became Lincoln's top goal scorer for the entire season.

On 23 March 2010, City extended the loan of Somma until the end of the season.