Giuseppe Rossi

Giuseppe Rossi (born 1 February 1987) is an Italian footballer who plays as a striker for Spanish club Villarreal CF and the Italian national team.

Early Life

Rossi was born to Italian immigrant parents in Teaneck, New Jersey; his father, Fernando Rossi, coached football and taught Italian and Spanish at Clifton High School. His mother, Cleonilde Rossi, was also a language teacher at Clifton.At age 12, he moved to Parma, Italy with his father to begin his youth career at Parma.

Early Career

When offered a spot on the youth team of Parma, Rossi (then 12) and his father moved to Italy until Manchester United bought his contract when he was 17. He scored his only Premier League goal with a long range effort in a 3–1 win over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

At the start of the 2006–07 season, Rossi moved to Newcastle United on loan until January 1, 2007, where he was expected to gain some first team experience. He made his home debut on September 24, 2006.Rossi scored his only Newcastle goal in his first start on October 25, 2006, against Portsmouth in a Carling Cup Third Round tie at St James' Park.

For the second half of the season, he was again loaned out, this time to his former club, Parma. Scoring nine goals in 19 league appearances, he helped the club escape the threat of relegation.

Villarreal

On July 31, 2007, Manchester United confirmed Rossi had been sold to Spanish club Villarreal CF for an undisclosed fee, reportedly around £6.6 million (€10 million). He scored his first goal for Villarreal on his debut against Valencia on August 26, 2007. In his second season with Villarreal, Rossi had scored 12 goals in 30 league appearances, along with three goals in eight Champions League appearances. In January, 2011, he signed a contract extension with Villarreal until 2016. The 2010–11 season proved to be his breakthrough season, as he scored 32 goals in 56 appearances in all competitions. An anterior cruciate ligament injury on Rossi's right knee that he picked up in the 3-0 loss against Real Madrid on October 26, 2011 will cause Rossi to be out for 6 months.

International Career

Rossi has represented Italy at almost every youth level from U-16 to U-21. In 2006, he was invited to a pre-World Cup training camp with the United States national team by then-coach Bruce Arena but declined, stating his desire to play for Italy. He was called up for the 2007 Euro U-21 by head coach Pierluigi Casiraghi. He scored four goals at the 2008 Summer Olympics, making him the top scorer for the tournament, despite only reaching the quarter-final.

Italian national football team manager Marcello Lippi has stated that had Rossi been fit, he would have received a call-up for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers in September 2008. Rossi was called up to the Italy squad in October 2008, making his debut for the national team as a second half substitute against Bulgaria on October 11. Rossi scored his first goal for the Italian national team on June 6, 2009, in a friendly against Northern Ireland, at Pisa's Arena Garibaldi. He also scored two goals against the United States in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup on June 15, 2009, in South Africa.

Rossi was in Lippi's provisional 28-man 2010 FIFA World Cup squad announced in May, but failed to make the cut for final 23-man squad.

On 17 November 2010, for his 18th cap for Italy, Rossi was picked by Italian manager Cesare Prandelli to wear the Azzurri captain's armband for the first time ahead of the friendly against Romania.