Nicolò Zaniolo

Nicolò Zaniolo

(born 2 July 1999) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or right winger for Premier League club Aston Villa, on loan from Süper Lig club Galatasaray, and the Italy national team.

Born in Massa, Tuscany, Zaniolo grew up in the Fiorentina youth system.

On the final day of the 2016 mid year transfer window, he was released by Fiorentina, and subsequently joined Virtus Entella.

In total, he collected seven appearances for the Biancocelesti in the 2016–17 season.

After several months playing for the Entella Primavera side, Zaniolo was given his professional debut in Serie B on 11 March 2017, aged 17, in a 3–2 win against Benevento.

On 5 July 2017, Inter Milan announced they had signed Zaniolo, for a reported fee of €1.8 million, plus €1.7 million in bonuses.

He played for the Primavera side in the 2017–18 season, finishing top-scorer of the team with 13 goals and winning the Campionato Nazionale Primavera.

Zaniolo made his Inter debut in a pre-season friendly on 9 July 2017.

On April 14, 2018, manager Spalletti selected him to the first team squad against Atalanta, however he did not play any competitive game for Inter's first team during the season.

In June 2018, it was reported that Zaniolo and Davide Santon had joined Roma as a part of the deal moving Radja Nainggolan to Inter.

Zaniolo completed his medical on 25 June, and signed a five-year contract with the club, for a fee of €4.5 million plus 15% resell revenue.

He made his first appearance for Roma and UEFA Champions League debut on 19 September, in a 3–0 defeat to Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu.

He made his Serie A debut on 26 September 2018, aged 19, in the home match won 4–0 against Frosinone.

On 26 December, he scored his first goal in Serie A in a 3–1 win against Sassuolo.

The following year, during a UEFA Champions League match against FC Porto, Zaniolo became the youngest Italian player to score twice in a single match in the competition when he scored both of Roma's goals in a 2–1 win.

For his efforts, he was named the Serie A Young Player of the Year for 2018-19.

Zaniolo picked up where he left off, scoring 4 and assisting 1 in Serie A through 18 matchdays, and continuing to be dangerous as a dribbler.

On 12 January 2020, Zaniolo suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in his right knee during a 2–1 home loss to Juventus.

He returned to training in late June 2020.

In addition, he received letters of support from both the Italian and global footballing community, including Roberto Mancini, Roberto Baggio, and Francesco Totti, who had previously been operated by the same surgeon.

Although he had been set to miss the remainder of club football season and highly likely would have missed the upcoming UEFA Euro 2020, all footballing activities in Europe were suspended by March 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic, with club competitions rescheduled to be played behind closed doors starting in the summer.

On 5 July 2020, Zaniolo made his return-from-injury appearance, coming onto the pitch after 66 minutes in the away Serie A 1–2 loss against Napoli.

A week later, Zaniolo scored his first post-injury goal in the away Serie A 3–0 win over Brescia, which was followed by another goal scored at the tail-end of a 6–1 away Serie A win over SPAL on 22 July 2020.

Zaniolo missed the entire 2020–21 season due to another anterior cruciate ligament injury sustained in September 2020 over the international break.

He returned to the pitch in July 2021 during pre-season, under newly appointed coach José Mourinho.

Zaniolo's first season back was marked by struggles both with fitness and with refereeing.

Throughout the season, players frequently fouled Zaniolo without punishment.

It came to such an extreme that manager Mourinho eventually said, "“I will finish with one observation. I want to say something that probably goes against my interests: if I were Nicolo Zaniolo, I would start thinking that perhaps playing in Serie A means things will be stacked against me.”

Zaniolo scored his first goal since his return from his second knee injury in the 3–0 win over Trabzonspor in the inaugural UEFA Europa Conference League.

He scored a hat trick against Bodo/Glimt in the quarterfinals of the Europa Conference League to confirm Roma's passage to the semifinals, his first such.

On 25 May 2022, he scored the only goal as Roma beat Feyenoord in the final to win the Europa Conference League.

After the 2021–22 season, rumours swirled about Zaniolo's exit.

Roma communicated a willingness to transfer him in June, but demanded a €50 million payment.

Zaniolo meanwhile asked for a contract renewal at €4.5 million, a number which would have made him joint-top earner alongside Lorenzo Pellegrini and Paulo Dybala.

This saga dominated the off-field stories about Roma and Zaniolo.

On the field, Zaniolo continued his struggle for form, deployed as a right sided hold-up player, playing through thigh and shoulder injuries.

While he scored 2 goals in the UEFA Europa League, he only scored 1 league goal.

This culminated in Zaniolo being booed off the field during a victory in the Coppa Italia vs Genoa, after which Zaniolo submitted a transfer request.

After a mob appeared at Zaniolo's house, he fled to La Spezia, where he and the club agreed that he would not appear in any future matches until the transfer window.