Tops of Italy are hunting for Mancini. The Internet is tearing up Instagram with pictures of Gianluca. He has been compared to 2006 champion Marco Materazzi. Gianluca Mancini is a player of the Italian team, his position is a defender. At the end of 2017, he became one of the 100 most talented young football players in Italy.
Gianluca Mancini is often confused with Roberto Mancini - the namesake, the head coach of the Italian national team and the former head coach of Zenit. True, except for the surname, nothing else binds them. During his short professional career, the footballer managed to make a great contribution: he played 44 matches, scored 5 goals, made 1 assist, and received 9 yellow cards.
Gianluca Mancini was born on April 17, 1996 in an Italian small tourist town near the city of Pisa - Pantedere, named after the Pante Bridge over the Era River. From childhood, the boy played football.
Sports career
Fiorentina
Since 2015, Gianluca Mancini received his sports education at the Fiorentina youth school in Florence, which he owned until the summer of 2016. Fiorentina, based in Florence, is a two-time Italian champion and a six-time Italian Cup winner. The club was founded on August 29, 1926 thanks to the merger of the Libertas team and the Firenze sports club. The traditional colors of the club were initially red and white, but in 1928 they changed to purple and white, since then the team was called "Violet". However, for the club from Florence, the young footballer never played a single match.
Perugia
Also in 2015, Gianluca Mancini signed his first professional contract with the Italian football club Perugia. In 2016, the footballer moved from the city of Florence to the "Perugia" of the city of the same name. In the 2015/2016 season, Mancini played on loan at Serie B for Perugia, after which he moved to the club as a free agent. Interesting facts: in the 1978/1979 season, Perugia, under the leadership of club president Franco D'Attoma, did not lose a single match in Serie A. This achievement was repeated only by Milan in the 1991/1992 season and Juventus in the 2011/2012 season. And in the 1999/2000 and 2000/2001 seasons, Russian footballer Dmitry Alenichev played for Perugia. In Perugia, Gianluca Mancini showed his sports creativity in 2 tournaments: Italian Cup and Serie B, where he scored his first goal. At the same time, Fiorentina retained half of the rights to its pupil. In January 2017, "Perugia" sold Gianluca to the Italian football club from the city of Bergamo "Atalanta" for 300 thousand euros.
Atlanta
In 2017, Gianluca Mancini moved to Atlanta. The 22-year-old's role is as a central defender. The transfer value of the footballer is around 2 million euros. His contract with the Lombards is valid until June 30, 2023. Mancini made his Serie A debut in September 2017 as a substitute against his native Fiorentina. At Atalanta, Gianluca acts in the center of the defense in a three-center-back formation.
In the 2018 season of the Italian Championship, the defender played 11 matches and scored one goal. Gianluca has eight appearances this season, three goals and one assist in Serie A, as well as one goal in three Europa League games. “Mancini is a modern defender with great potential for improvement,” says Atalanta head coach Gian Piero Gasperini. "He has all the necessary qualities to play with time in the Italian national team."
Overall, Atalanta's stats don't exactly upset Gian Piero Gasperini. There are 14 conceded goals in 12 rounds. This is the fifth highest in Serie A. With 23 goals scored and 8th in the championship, the Bergamo team is on the move. In great order and Gianluca Mancini.
A pupil of Fiorentina, he was in reserve last year, and a year earlier he played in Serie B in Perugia. But it seems that it was in this season that Mancini's time came. He has earned a starting spot and is now shaping the agenda with José Palomino at the center of Atalanta's defense.
The success of a football player
Mancini is a promising player. He has not yet played for the first Italian national team, but over the past year has taken part in 10 matches for the Italian youth team "Squadra Azzurra".
According to analysts, Mancini holds the position well and reads the game (makes six interceptions on average per match), he is quite effective in tackling the ball (77% success). Dangerous in standard positions at the opponent's goal. Gianluca has scored in the last three Serie A games - Parma, Bologna and Inter! While he lacks experience, the Atalanta defender is progressing very quickly.
22-year-old central defender “Atalanta”, the famous Gianluca Mancini with his game drew the attention of eminent clubs. Five football sports clubs are planning to strengthen the line of defense with a young player. In addition to the Italian “Roma” and “Inter”, the defender of “Arsenal” and “Borussia” from Dortmund are interested. Also, Gianluca Mancini fell into the sphere of interests of the St. Petersburg club “Zenith”. The blue-white-blue scouts looked at the player during the Serie A match Bologna - Atalanta. In this meeting, Mancini spent 90 minutes on the field and scored a goal. Atalanta won 2: 1.
According to well-known football clubs, Mancini's main advantage is playing on the "second floor" (martial arts, strikes and other components). This indicator is estimated at 86 points out of 100 possible, which is not surprising with an increase of 190 centimeters.
