Andrea Barzagli

Andrea Barzagli was born on 8 May 1981 in Fiesole, Italy. His youth career started at San Frediano Rondinella S.S. where he scored 2 goals in 51 matches. In 2000 Barzagli moved to A.C. Pistoiese in a co-ownership deal. After returning to Rondinella, Andrea appeared in another 13 matches for the club.

In 2001 Barzagli signed for Ascoli Calcio and 2 years later he joined A.C. Chievo Verona. The young defender’s debut match for Ascoli was against Brescia in 2003. In 2004 Andrea Barzagli was transferred to Palermo, played 150 official matches for the club, established himself as a footballer of the highest level and was eventually invited to join the Italian national team.

A couple years later Andrea became Palermo’s captain. He has also played for the Italian youth teams until he was made part of the national team in 2004. Since then Barzagli was capped 20 times for Italy. In 2006 Andrea played a quarterfinal match against Ukraine at 2006 Mundial.

Later on Italy won the 2006 World Cup and Barzagli became a world champion. Right before 2008-2009 season Barzagli chose to join Wolfsburg following fellow Italian and teammate Cristian Zaccardo.

Andrea Barzagli joined Juventus on 27 January 2011 on a two and a half year deal. That was quite a bargain for the Italian side with just €300,000 paid and €600,000 due to be paid depending on results.