Giorgio Chiellini

Giorgio Chiellini is a relatively young footballer, born in 1984.

At the dawn of his career, Chiellini played for A.S. Livorno Calcio youth team in different leagues of the Italian Championship. Back then Giorgio was used primarily as a wing-back.

For 4 seasons at Livorno Chiellini was not performing outstanding football. It was only in the last season at Livorno when Giorgio managed to claim his lineup spot. After that he was scouted by Juventus which experienced certain staff problems after corruption scandal and consequent relegation from Serie A.

Nevertheless, after the transfer Chiellini did not get a chance to play in the club and was loaned out to Fiorentina immediately. Here Giorgio proved to be a secure and talented defender, and after returning to the home club was granted a place in Juventus starting lineup. The only change was that Juve senior coach put him in the center of defense (as his height helped competing for high balls).

This is how the career of one of the best central backs in the Italian league started. In 2008 Chiellini was called the ‘Serie A Defender of the Year’ and was later invited to play for the Italian national football team. Presently Giorgio is the key defender at Juventus and in the national team. Many top European clubs offered hefty sums of money for Chiellini but he remained loyal to the Old Lady.

Quite recently Giorgio Chiellini extended his contract with Juventus again until 2015, with 3.5 million Euros annual salary. Despite not being well paid by top football players’ standards, Giorgio remains faithful to bianco-neri which is an attitude to be respected. Even after the radical change of the Italian national team’s roster, the new head coach entrusted Chiellini to be the backbone of the defensive line.