Alessio Romagnoli

Alessio Romagnoli (born 12 January 1995) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Lazio and the Italy national team.

Romagnoli began his career with Roma in 2012, and later spent a season on loan with Sampdoria in 2014, before moving to AC Milan in 2015. At the start of the 2018–19 Serie A season, he was named the team's captain following Leonardo Bonucci's return to Juventus, before joining Lazio in 2022.

Roma
A product of Roma's youth academy, Romagnoli was included in the first team squad by new head coach Zdeněk Zeman at age 17. He made his senior debut on 11 December 2012 against Atalanta, playing the full game in the Coppa Italia as a starter. He made his Serie A debut 12 days later, as a substitute in the final minutes of a league game against A.C. Milan. He scored his first goal in Serie A on 3 March 2013 against Genoa.

He found more first-team opportunities in the second half of the 2013–14 season under new manager Rudi Garcia, both at full-back and in the centre of defence. On 31 May 2014, Romagnoli signed a new four-year contract with Roma.

Loan to Sampdoria
On 1 September 2014, Romagnoli was loaned to Sampdoria for €500,000, with an option to purchase for €2 million, as well as a counter-option of €750,000. Romagnoli made his Sampdoria debut as a late substitute in a 2–0 victory against Torino on 14 September. He scored his first goal for Sampdoria on 24 September 2014 in a 2–1 defeat of Chievo. In June 2015, Roma activated the buy-back clause and he returned to the club.

2015–16 season
On 11 August 2015, he was sold to A.C. Milan for a fee of €25 million, signing a five-year contract. In addition, there was a sell-on clause entitling Roma to 30% over the value of €25 million. He made his official debut for Milan on 18 August, in a 2–0 win over Perugia in Coppa Italia. Six days later, he made his first appearance in the league with the club, as Milan lost 2–0 to Fiorentina.

On 1 March 2016, he scored his first goal for Milan in a 5–0 win against Alessandria in the Coppa Italia. This match sent Milan to the final for the first time since 2003. He concluded his first season with Milan with 40 appearances in all competitions and one goal.

2016–17 season
Romagnoli made his first appearance of the 2016–17 season in a 3–2 victory in Serie A against Torino. On 23 December, Romagnoli helped lead Milan to victory in the Supercoppa Italiana, playing the full 120 minutes as Milan beat Juventus 4–3 in the penalty shoot-out following a 1–1 draw after extra time. On 15 April 2017, Romagnoli scored his first ever Serie A goal for Milan in the Derby della Madonnina.

2017–18 season
After missing Milan's first 4 games of the season due to injury, he returned to the squad and he made his return to play the second leg of Europa league playoffs against Shkëndija. On 19 September 2017, he made his first appearance of the Serie A season against Udinese.

2018–19 season
Following Leonardo Bonucci's return to Juventus, Romagnoli was appointed as Milan's team captain a few months after he renewed his contract on 5 June 2018. Romagnoli scored stoppage-time winning goals two times in five days for Milan, earning his club a 2–1 win over Genoa and a 1–0 win over Udinese.

2019–20 season
Romagnoli was the only player on the team to have been featured in every game of the season before a muscle injury on 21 July 2020 in a home game against Sassuolo. Having his captain's armband handed in to Gianluigi Donnarumma, he was substituted for Matteo Gabbia after 32 minutes and missed the last three games of the season. He finished the season with 39 games in total and one goal.

2020–21 season
In his sixth season for Milan, Romagnoli had a string of minor injuries and a series of poor performances, causing him to unexpectedly lose his place in the starting 11 to Fikayo Tomori, a loanee who arrived from Chelsea during the winter transfer window. Rarely playing in the second half of season, he made just 22 appearances in Serie A, scoring one goal on 29 November 2020 in a 2–0 home win over Fiorentina. Following the sub-par season, Romagnoli was not called up by the national team coach Roberto Mancini to join the provisional squad for UEFA Euro 2020 (competition postponed for a year due to the pandemic) and was also rumored to have been placed on a transfer market due to the expiration of his contract in June 2022 and unwillingness of the club management to deal with agent Mino Raiola, who had convinced the team's goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma to leave the club as a free agent.

2021–22 season
On 28 November 2021, Romagnoli scored his first goal of the season against Sassuolo in an eventual 3–1 loss. On 9 February 2022, against Lazio in the Coppa Italia, he assisted the opening goal in an eventual 4–0 win, a long pass through the field to his teammate Leao. Romagnoli rejected a contract extension from Milan and thus left the club at the end of the season.

Lazio
On 12 July 2022, Romagnoli signed a five-year contract with Lazio.

International career
Romagnoli has represented Italy on multiple occasions at under-16, under-17 and under-19 levels. He made his first appearance for the Italy under-21 team against Northern Ireland on 5 March 2014, playing the full 90 minutes. With the Italy under-21, he took part at the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, forming an effective partnership with fellow centre-back Daniele Rugani.

On 27 August 2016 Romagnoli was called up to the senior squad for the first time for a friendly against France on 1 September and a 2018 World Cup qualification match on 5 September against Israel. However, he was later moved to the under-21 squad for 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification match against Serbia.

Romagnoli made his senior debut on 6 October 2016, in a 2018 World Cup qualification match, playing all 90 minutes, in a 1–1 home draw against Spain.

He scored his first senior international goal on 15 October 2019, in a 5–0 away win against Liechtenstein, in a UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying match.

Style of play
An elegant, versatile, composed and gifted left-footed centre-back, with good technique and distribution, Romagnoli is known for his confidence in possession, and ability to play the ball out from the back; due to his ability to advance into more attacking positions or put pressure on opponents higher up on the pitch, he is also capable of functioning as a left-sided full-back. Romagnoli is effective in the air and known for his ability to time his challenges; regarded as one of the most promising young Italian defenders of his generation, his precocious displays, technique, positional sense, decision-making, and tackling abilities have led pundits to compare him with legendary Italian defender Alessandro Nesta, whom Romagnoli has described as his footballing idol. In 2015, Romagnoli was named one of the top 100 young footballers in the world born after 1994 by Don Balón.

International

 * Scores and results list Italy's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Romagnoli goal

Honours
Roma
 * Coppa Italia runner-up: 2012–13

AC Milan
 * Serie A: 2021–22
 * Coppa Italia runner-up: 2015–16, 2017–18
 * Supercoppa Italiana: 2016