Simone Romagnoli’s career

The centre-back was born in 1990 and is an ‘old school’ marker and has been excellent in recent months with Empoli sitting third in Serie B.

Simone Romagnoli moved from Cremona to Milan at just 17 and won the 2006-7 Scudetto with their Allievi team as the captain. With their Primavera side, he won the 2009-10 Coppa Italia. His first professional appearance was for Foggia in Lega Pro under Zeman as he made 23 appearances and scored three in the 2010-11 season, regularly featuring as a stopper. He followed Zeman to Serie B and Pescara after he was signed from Milan. He was part of the extremely successful side from Abruzzo that won promotion to Serie A, also earning a call-up to Ciro Ferrara’s Italy Under-21s. He made his debut in the top flight in the following season during a 3-0 defeat to Inter but next January he returned to Serie B with Spezia. In the meantime, he continued to play for the Azzurrini under new Coach Mangia, with current Bologna players Destro and Crisetig among his international teammates.

His time at Carpi made him more aware and consistent as a player. He was the irreplaceable heart of defence for Castori along with Gagliolo, Struna and Suagher with the team deservedly earning promotion to Serie A in 2015. He played well regularly for the next two seasons in Emilia before moving to Empoli last summer. In January 2018, he returned to Serie A through his loan to the Rossoblu.