Robert Acquafresca

Robert Acquafresca

Acquafresca with Bologna in 2011
Personal information
Full name Robert Acquafresca
Date of birth (1987-09-11) 11 September 1987
Place of birth Turin, Italy
Height 1.84 m (6 ft 1⁄2 in)
Playing position Striker
Club information
Current team
 Bologna
Number 18
Youth career
1993–2005 Torino
2005 Inter Milan
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
2005–2009 Inter Milan 0 (0)
2005–2007 → Treviso (loan) 43 (11)
2007–2009 → Cagliari (loan) 68 (24)
2009–2012 Genoa 10 (2)
2009–2010 → Atalanta (loan) 12 (1)
2010–2011 → Cagliari (loan) 37 (8)
2011–2012 → Bologna (loan) 32 (5)
2012– Bologna 52 (4)
2013 → Levante (loan) 13 (3)
National team‡
2004–2005 Italy U17 2 (0)
2004–2005 Italy U18 5 (2)
2005–2006 Italy U19 3 (0)
2006–2007 Italy U20 4 (1)
2007–2009 Italy U21 18 (11)
2008 Italy (Olympics) 4 (1)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 1 December 2015.
† Appearances (goals)

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 26 June 2009

Robert Acquafresca (Italian pronunciation: [ˈrɔːbert akkwaˈfreska]; born 11 September 1987) is an Italian footballer who plays for Bologna as a striker.

He is a former Italy under-21 international and represented Italy at the 2008 Olympics.

Club career

Early career

Born in Turin to an Italian father and a Polish mother residing in Alpignano, Acquafresca entered the Torino youth system at the age of 6.[1] In the 2004–05 Campionato Primavera, he played 14 games and scored two goals for the granata.

In summer 2005, Torino was promoted back to Serie A; however, Torino was expelled from Serie A due to the club's financial problems, with the consequent free release of all of their players. He was signed by Internazionale as a youth team player, but two days later was loaned out to Treviso in order to gain first team experience.

Internazionale loaned him to Treviso (also in co-ownership deal for €35,000), thus partnering former Torino teammate Pinga. He made eight Serie A appearances in 2005–06 season. As part of the co-ownership deal, Acquafresca remained in Treviso for the 2006–07 Serie B season and scored 11 goals in 35 appearances. In June 2007, Inter bought the remaining half of the co-ownership deal from Treviso, for €1.5 million.

Cagliari

Acquafresca was involved in the David Suazo transfer, which saw him move to Cagliari on a co-ownership deal for €100,000.[2] There, he has played 36 games and scored fourteen goals.

On 25 June 2008 it was confirmed that Inter had bought Cagliari's 50% of Acquafresca for €6 million, making them his sole club, however he was loaned back to Cagliari for the 2008–09 season.

On 14 July 2008 he revealed that he dreams of wearing the Inter shirt one day. He also thanked Cagliari for letting him grow as a football player so that he one-day could fulfill his Inter dream.[3]

After missing the first game of the season against Lazio, he then played the next five games without opening his account before scoring his first goal of the season against Torino. He scored again the next match at home against Chievo. On 2 November he scored two goals at home against Bologna in a 5–1 win.[4] He also scored one goal against his parent team, Inter, on 13 January 2009.

Genoa & Atalanta

On 29 June 2009, Acquafresca became a member of Genoa C.F.C. as a part of Diego Milito and Thiago Motta move to Internazionale.[5][6] and moved along with Leonardo Bonucci, Francesco Bolzoni, Riccardo Meggiorini[7] and Ivan Fatic.[8] He was valued €9.5 million at that time, signing a 5-year contract.[9] He was immediately loaned to Atalanta as the club sold its striker Sergio Floccari to Genoa.

In January 2010 the Italian striker has prematurely ended his loan spell at Atalanta and has returned to Genoa, as the club completed a three players three club swap, which saw Hernán Crespo moved to Parma, and Parma's Nicola Amoruso moved to Atalanta.

Back to Cagliari

On 1 July 2010, his no.9 shirt was given to Luca Toni, and Acquafresca was transfer-listed by Genoa. After a loan negotiation, Acquafresca finally returned to Cagliari on loan for €2 million[10] and took no.9 shirt from Nenê. Cagliari also had an option to buy him after the loan.[11]

On 22 June 2011 Cagliari announced that the club would not exercise the right to sign him outright,[12] even though Acquafresca had been the flagship striker for Cagliari since the departure of Alessandro Matri in January 2011.

Bologna

On 19 July 2011 he was loaned to Bologna[13] for €500,000,[14] rejoining coach Pierpaolo Bisoli, which in June 2011 the club sold its forward Riccardo Meggiorini back to Genoa and also signed Federico Rodríguez from Genoa. Bologna made Acquafresca's move permanent after the 2011–12 season, buying the 50% registration rights of Acquafresca for €2.5 million.[15][16] Acquafresca signed a 1+3-year contract worth €1.692 million a season in summer 2011.[14] Scoring 5 goals in 20 Serie A games during his first season at the club.

Loan to Levante

On 31 January 2013 Acquafresca left for Spanish club Levante UD, after a goal drought in 6 Serie A appearances in 2012–13 season.[17] In total he made 13 appearances in La Liga scoring 3 goals. In June 2013 Bologna acquired Rodríguez outright from Genoa for free, as well as Acquafresca for €1.267 million.[18] The deals made Bologna had spent €4.267 in total to acquire Acquafresca.

Return to Bologna

Acquafresca returned to Bologna for 2013–14 Serie A, however he made 19 appearances in Serie A without scoring a goal, Bologna were relegated to Serie B at the end of the season.[19]

International career

Acquafresca has been capped for Italian U-17s, U18s, U19s, U20s and Under-21 side, making his debut in a qualifying match against Albania on 1 June 2007.[1] Also, Polish Football Federation, together with national coach Leo Beenhakker, have been trying to convince him to play for Poland. Acquafresca, who speaks Polish, in an interview given to Gazeta Wyborcza (14 March 2008) said that he would leave the decision to the near future .[20] On 18 March, he finally opted to refuse the Polish Football Federation offer, and instead confirming his choice to represent Italy at international level.[21]

With national youth team, Acquafresca finished as the third in group 6 of 2006 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship qualification. With under-21 team, Acquafresca finished as losing semi-finalist in 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, lost to Germany 0–1. Eventually Germany was the champion.

With the Italy Olympic's team (de facto U21 team with overage player) in 2008 Summer Olympics, Acquafresca finished as losing quarter-finalist to Belgium. Scoring 1 goal in 4 games in the tournament.

References

  1. 1 2 TUTTO MERCATO WEB – Robert Acquafresca, il bomber che viaggia in Ypsilon
  2. ↑ FC Internazionale Milano 2006–07 bilancio, require purchase in CCIAA
  3. ↑ "Acquafresca's Olympic joy". Channel4. 14 July 2008. Archived from the original on 17 July 2007. Retrieved 14 July 2008.
  4. ↑ Acquafresca scored a double Retrieved on 2 November 2008
  5. ↑ "Diego Milito signs for Inter". inter.it. August 2010. Retrieved 30 June 2009.
  6. ↑ "Milito-Thiago, oggi si chiude con un incontro Moratti-Preziosi". La Gazzetta dello Sport (in Italian). 19 May 2009. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  7. ↑ "Thiago Motta signs on". inter.it (FC Internazionale Milano official site). 1 July 2009. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  8. ↑ "Il Genoa in rima: con Pelé c' è Dembelé" [Genoa rhymes: with Pelé comes Dembelé] (in Italian). La Gazzetta dello Sport. 10 June 2009. Retrieved 21 December 2010.
  9. ↑ Genoa CFC 2009 annual report. registroimprese.it (in Italian) (C.C.I.A.A.). 28 April 2010.
  10. ↑ €1 million in half season (another €1M to be included in 2011 accounts), Genoa CFC Report and Accounts on 31 December 2010 (Italian)
  11. ↑ "Bentornato, Robert!". Cagliari Calci (in Italian). 18 August 2010. Retrieved 19 August 2010.
  12. ↑ "Il Cagliari rinuncia ad Acquafresca, Missiroli e Laner". Cagliari Calcio (in Italian). 22 June 2011. Retrieved 22 June 2011.
  13. ↑ "Acquafresca al Bologna" (in Italian). Bologna FC 1909. 19 July 2011. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  14. 1 2 Bologna FC SpA financial report and accounts on 30 June 2011 (Italian)
  15. ↑ Genoa C.F.C. SpA bilancio (financial report and accounts) on 31 December 2012 (Italian), PDF purchased from Italian CCIAA
  16. ↑ "Calciomercato Genoa, il Bologna riscatta Acquafresca" (in Italian). calciomercato.it. 19 June 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  17. ↑ Acquafresca arrives to valencia for signing with Levante at the club's homepage (Catalan)
  18. ↑ Genoa CFC SpA bilancio (financial report and accounts) on 31 December 2013 (Italian). PDF purchased from Italian CCIAA
  19. ↑ "E' Diego Lopez il nuovo allenatore del Bologna" [Diego Lopez the new coach of Bologna] (in Italian). Bologna F.C. 1909 (bolognafc.it). 1 July 2014. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  20. ↑ Acquafresca na Euro? Polacy chcą szybkiej decyzji napastnika z Serie A
  21. ↑ "Under21: Acquafresca rimane azzurro" (in Italian). RAI Sport. 18 March 2008. Retrieved 19 March 2008.

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