Giuseppi Rossi
Date of Birth: - 1st February 1987
Nationality: - Born in America, but with Italian parents so eligable to play for Italy.
Height: - 5ft 8inches
Position: - Striker
Club History: - Parma (youth)
- Manchester United
- Newcastle (loan)
- Parma (loan)
- Villareal
Linked With: - Napoli
- Barcelona (U)
- Tottenham (U)
- Liverpool
- Chelsea (U)
There is possibly more interest from Italian teams with the likes of Juventus and Inter, but a transfer to any club would depend on Rossi proving his fitness as he's been out injured most of this season.
Estimated Market Value: - Believe it or not, Villareal are desperate to sell Rossi to get his wages off the books, and could go for as little as 14million - 17million.
Club Career:
As stated earlier, Rossi was born in the USA and only moved over to Italy (his parent's original country) at the age of 12 after realising he could take up a footballing career with the Italian side Parma in their youth setup.
After 5 years with the youth side of Parma, at the age of 17 Rossi's contract was bought by Manchester United and Rossi was then made their player.
After a year with Manchester United, in late 2005 Rossi was finally given a few first-team appearances (all from the bench), but did mark his unimpressive spell with United with a long-ranged stunning goal against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
At the start of the 2006/2007 season, Rossi moved to Newcastle United on loan until January 1st 2007, where he was expected to gain some first team experience.
September 24th 2006 - Rossi made his home debut for Newcastle at St.James'
October 25th 2006 - Rossi scored his only Newcastle goal in his first start for Newcastle against Portsmouth in a Carling Cup Third Round tie at St James' Park.
For the second half of the season after a basic spell with Newcastle, Rossi was again loaned out but this time to his former club, Parma. Rossi went on to scor 9 goals in 19 league appearances, and help the club escape the threat of relegation.
Villarreal:
31st July 2007 - Manchester United confirmed Rossi had been sold to Spanish club Villarreal CF for an undisclosed fee, reportedly around 7 million pounds.
August 26th 2007 - Rossi scored his first goal for Villarreal on his La Liga debut against Valencia. However, for the rest of the season appearances would remain limited and his career at Villareal didn't get off to a running start.
In his second season with Villarreal, Rossi had scored 12 goals in 30 league appearances, along with three goals in eight Champions League appearances.
January 2011 - Rossi signed a contract extension with Villarreal until 2016.
The 2010/2011 season proved to finally be Rossi's breakthrough season, as he scored 32 goals in 56 appearances in all competitions, and took Europe by storm after impressing pundits and media outlets alike.
At the start of the 2011/2012 season, much was expected of Rossi and he actually got off to a relatively good start scoring in pre-season games and a few at the beggining of La Liga. However, on October 26th 2011 - An anterior cruciate ligament injury on Rossi's right knee that he picked up in the 3-0 loss against Real Madrid has kept Rossi out all season.
International Career:
Rossi was called up for the 2007 Euro U-21 by Italy, after stating that he didn't want to play for the USA.
Rossi went on to score four goals at the 2008 Summer Olympics, making him the top scorer for the tournament, despite only reaching the quarter-final.
Italian national football team manager Marcello Lippi has stated that had Rossi been fit, he would have received a call-up for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers in September 2008.
October 2008 - Rossi was called up to the Italy squad, and then made his debut for the national team as a second half substitute against Bulgaria on October 11th.
June 6th 2009 - Rossi scored his first goal for the Italian national team in a friendly against Northern Ireland in Italy.
June 15th 2009 - Rossi also scored two goals against the United States in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa.
Rossi was in Lippi's provisional 28-man 2010 FIFA World Cup squad announced in May, but failed to make the cut for final 23-man squad.
17th November 2010 - for Rossi's 18th cap for Italy, Rossi was picked by the Italian manager to wear the captain's armband for the first time for the friendly against Romania.
Club Statistics:
Manchester United: -14 appearances, 4 goals and 4 assists.
Newcastle United: - 13 appearances, 1 goal and 0 assists.
Parma: - 20 appearances, 9 goals, 4 assists.
Villareal: - 192 appearances, 82 goals, 27 assists.
Total (as of 02/04/2012): - 239 appearances, 96 goals, 35 assists.
General Comments:
I'm sure most of us are very familiar with a certain Mr Rossi, but I'll try and sum him up as best I can. Rossi is a very versatile striker, as he can play in the wings, as a lone striker, as an attacking midfielder, as a support striker or even as a general midfielder. His best position is probably as a support striker though as he enjoys to not only finish goals, but to start them also. For a striker, he has surprisingly good vision and has the ability to catalyst counter-attacks etc, which is a very good ability to have. I'd personally say after watching him for years that his best finishing attribute is long-range finishing, as he just seems to pop up with screamers randomly, which I personally think's brilliant. Rossi is a great all round player and for the price he's going to be sold at, I'd say he's a rather good bargain for any team, as just a year ago his fee was around 35million, so it's funny what a lack of money can do to a team and their stars. But in my honest opinion, what worries me is how long it takes Rossi to 'settle down' at new clubs, and could be a potential issue for the new club, but now he's a bit older and wiser and has shown people what he can do, hopefully that won't be an issue. However, in order for Villarreal to get him transferred to another club, Rossi must prove his fitness, and after his injury, may take some time due to the serious nature of it.
Thanks all,
Ed022.}