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Sebastian Giovinco (born January 26, 1987 in Turin) is an Italian footballer who plays for Serie A club Juventus. Giovinco is an attacking midfielder with noted dribbling and play-making skills.^[1]

Due to his short stature and his technical skills, Giovinco acquired the nickname formica atomica (atom ant, after the eponymous Hanna-Barbera character) and although only being in the early stages of his footballing career, he is today considered one of the most promising Italian footballers.^[2] His younger brother Giuseppe also joined the Juventus youth team and is in the Primavera team.

Early life

Giovinco was born in Turin to Southern-Italian immigrant parents; his mother is from Catanzaro, Calabria and his father is from Palermo, Sicily.^[3] He grew up highly interested in football and impressed Juventus who brought him into their youth system in 2001, at the age of 14. He then rose through the youth system ranks of the club, impressing by winning the Campionato Primavera and reaching the final at the Viareggio Tournament with the bianconeri in their 2005–06 campaign.^[4]

Career

Giovinco was successively integrated into the Juventus first team and made his debut on May 12, 2007 in the Serie B match against Bologna, entering in as a substitute in place of Raffaele Palladino. He marked his debut with a splendid assist for David Trezeguet's tap-in. Since then, he had been tipped to be Alessandro Del Piero's heir in the trequartista role.^[5]

Loan at Empoli

On July 4, 2007 he was loaned out to Empoli with fellow youth team graduate Claudio Marchisio. Giovinco scored his first Serie A goal on September 30, 2007 when Empoli beat Palermo 3–1.

Giovinco caused large media interest when he scored his second goal, a penalty, on November 4, an equalizer against Roma, which was compared by some pundits to Ronaldinho's free kick that knocked England out of the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Back to Juventus

In June 2008, Giovinco and Marchisio both returned to Juventus after enjoying a successful spell in Tuscany. Giovinco played his first match for Juventus on September 24, 2008 against Catania. He substituted Pavel Nedvěd late in second half, and made an immediate impact, assisting Amauri to score the only goal of the match. He scored his first Juve goal on December 7, 2008 against Lecce from a freekick.^[6] He has also scored goals against Catania in the Coppa Italia and another against Bologna in a man of the match display.

Despite a bright start, Giovinco did not play regularly and made sporadic appearances throughout the season both in the starting eleven and off the bench as he struggled to fit into Ranieri's preferred formations. The summer signing of Diego confined him to the bench but new manager Ciro Ferrara confirmed that the youngster will be back-up to the Brazilian international. When Ferrara was forced into a tactical switch due to injuries to first choice midfielders Mauro Camoranesi and Marchisio during various times, Giovinco was drafted into the starting line-up and helped Juve to a 5-1 hammering of Sampdoria in only his fourth start of the season^[7] but was eventually benched again after some disappointing performances. Under Alberto Zaccheroni, he hardly featured at all as his position was taken by young midfielder Antonio Candreva, a winter loan signing from Livorno.

International career

Giovinco has represented Italy at every youth level from under-16s upwards. He was called up to Italy U-21 by head coach Pierluigi Casiraghi, on June 1, 2007 to make his first appearance at that level in a qualification match against Albania.^[8] He gave the assist for Acquafresca who scored. Italy U-21 won the match 0–1.

He also starred at the 2008 Toulon Tournament, where he was voted most valuable player, scoring two goals in the opening game against the Ivory Coast,^[9] and netting the winning penalty in the semifinal match against Japan.^[10] Italy ultimately won the competition, defeating Chile 1–0 in the final.

Giovinco then appeared in the 2008 Olympic Games for the Italian team. He scored the first goal in a 3–0 win against Honduras in the first match of the competition where he struck the ball from outside of the box with his left foot. He also had an impressive second match against South Korea. His Olympic adventure ended after Italy lost 3–2 to Belgium in the quarter-finals.

In the summer of 2009, Giovinco and Juve teammates Claudio Marchisio and Paolo De Ceglie were called-up the U-21 side for the European Championships in Sweden. Giovinco started all four matches as Italy lost to eventual winners Germany in the semifinal.

Career Statistics

As of 25 February 2010

Honours

Club

Juventus:

• 2005–06 Campionato Primavera^[11]
• 2006 Supercoppa Primavera
• 2007 Coppa Italia Primavera
• 2006–07 Serie B

National team

Italy U-21:

• 2008 International Tournament of Toulon

References

External links

• Giovinco's profile at Juventus Official Website

Italy squad – 2008 Summer Olympics 1 Viviano • 2 Motta • 3 De Ceglie • 4 Nocerino • 5 Cigarini • 6 Criscito • 7 Montolivo • 8 Marchisio • 9 Rocchi • 10 Giovinco • 11 Rossi • 12 Dessena • 13 Coda • 14 Acquafresca • 15 Bocchetti • 16 De Silvestri • 17 Abate • 18 Consigli • 20 Candreva • 21 Russotto • Coach: Casiraghi