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Antonio Cassano
Personal information
Date of birth	July 12, 1982 (1982-07-12) (age 25)
Place of birth	Bari, Italy
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position	Striker, Deep-lying Forward
Club information
Current club	Sampdoria
Number	99
Youth clubs
1999	Bari
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1999–2001 2001–2006 2006– 2007–	Bari AS Roma Real Madrid → Sampdoria (loan)	048 0(6) 118 (39) 019 0(2) 008 0(2)
National team2
2000–2002 2003–	Italy U-21 Italy	009 0(3) 010 0(3)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15 September 2006. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 6 September 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Antonio Cassano (born July 12, 1982 in Bari) is an Italian football player, currently playing for U.C. Sampdoria. In August 2007 he was transferred to the Italian Serie A club on a one-year loan deal from Real Madrid, both teams agreeing to share the cost of his wages. Although capped 10 times by the Italian national team, he was not included in the victorious Italy squad at the 2006 World Cup in Germany. A skillful, two-footed deep lying forward with world class technique and dribbling comparable to Ronaldinho's, Cassano's career appears to have been hampered by his difficult personality.

Variously nicknamed Peter Pan, Fantantonio, El Pibe de Bari (a clear reference to Diego Maradona's nickname), Il Gioiello di Bari Vecchia (the jewel of Old Bari), Talento di Bari Vecchia, Talentino and Bebo, Cassano has acquired a reputation for petulance that has often attracted more media attention than his ability as a player. He has lent his name to the Italian neologism Cassanata, coined by Fabio Capello in November 2002 and subsequently used by journalists to refer to any behaviour incompatible with team spirit in football.^[1]

He is a classic no 10/second striker who is seen as a favourite to succeed Francesco Totti and Alessandro Del Piero as the No 10 for Italy.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early career 1.2 Roma controversies 1.3 Transfer to Real Madrid 1.4 Return to the Azzurri 1.5 Real Madrid controversies 1.6 Sampdoria 2 Honours 2.1 With Roma 2.2 With Real Madrid 3 References 4 External links

Cassano was born on July 12, 1982, the day next to Italy's win over Germany in the 1982 FIFA World Cup Final. He grew up poor in the old section of Bari, Bari Vecchia. As a child, he always played football in the streets of Bari and was picked up by an A.S. Bari scout and brought up through the biancorossi's youth system. Cassano's dad left when Antonio was an infant.

Cassano made his Italian Serie A league debut for Bari in 1999, against local rivals US Lecce. A week later, he scored a superb goal against Inter Milan, one of the clubs who had courted Cassano before he signed a professional contract with his hometown club.

The top clubs in Italy each kept a close eye on Cassano, and amid rumours of a pre-contract agreement with AS Roma, he eventually signed for the then Serie A champions in the summer of 2001. The transfer fee of around €28m was considered by some a huge amount to pay for a player who was still only 19 years old. Juventus general director Luciano Moggi commented "Cassano is a real talent, but €28m for a player of his age is excessive. It's too soon to understand exactly how much he is worth."

Cassano's first season at Roma produced only five goals. As his game developed, he began to come to the attention of the national side selectors, culminating in a scoring debut for Italy in November 2003, against Poland. Cassano played for the Azzurri squad in UEFA Euro 2004, at the age of 22. After Italian playmaker Francesco Totti was suspended following a spitting incident with Danish Christian Poulsen in a group match, Cassano won a place in the starting line-up and scored a goal against Sweden and a last-minute winner against Bulgaria. However, Italy was eliminated in the group stage on goal difference. He was described by Giovanni Trapattoni as "The future of Italian football".

It was during this period that Cassano's surliness began to attract media attention. He had numerous disputes with coaches at the club and the national team, his relationship with then Roma coach Fabio Capello being notably a fractious one - the pair fell out over Cassano's omission from a practice match a few days after his international debut.

In the 2003 Coppa Italia finals against AC Milan, Cassano was sent off when he protested at a decision, and Cassano insistently showed the horns gesture towards the referee while leaving the pitch. In the 2004-05 season, after the resignation of Roma manager Cesare Prandelli, Cassano quarrelled with replacement Rudi Völler until the poor performance of the club forced Völler to resign only a month after his appointment. In a December 2004 interview, Cassano claimed to miss Capello, whom he considered to be "like a father".

He was omitted from the squad while Luigi Del Neri, the third AS Roma coach of the season, was in charge. Del Neri resigned in the middle of the season, being replaced by youth team boss and former AS Roma legend Bruno Conti after a run of disastrous results. Cassano returned to the team under Conti, and even served as Roma team captain when Francesco Totti was suspended for five matches toward the end of the season.

During the 2005-06 pre-season, while Roma was coached by Luciano Spalletti, Cassano was in constant conflict with the club management over the renewal of his contract, which was due to expire on June 30, 2006. Media commentators speculated that Cassano would leave Roma to join his former coach Fabio Capello at Juventus, but he eventually joined Real Madrid in January 2006, notoriously without saying good-bye to his Roma teammates.

Cassano became the second ever Italian player to sign for Real Madrid following Christian Panucci, a former teammate of his at AS Roma, This is something of a surprise to many people bearing in mind the historical importance and prowess of Italian footballers and the dominance of Real Madrid in European football. He debuted for the Merengues on January 18, 2006 in a Copa del Rey match against Real Betis, and scored his first goal just three minutes after he came on during the second half. He also scored in Real Madrid's 2-1 win over city rivals Atlético Madrid, but his failure to gain a regular place prompted speculation that Madrid signed him primarily to cash in on his resale value in his native Italy. Meanwhile reports of Cassano's erratic and anti-social behaviour continued, and his expanding waistline due to a weakness for junk food led in May 2006 to Madrid fining him for every gram he remained overweight. Cassano became a figure of ridicule in the Spanish media, including a parody by comedian Carlos Latre playing on Cassano's habit of excessive eating. He was omitted from Italy's victorious 2006 World Cup squad.

Hopes were raised of a revival in Cassano's career when Fabio Capello, his mentor and former manager at Roma, joined Real Madrid in the summer of 2006 following his departure from Juventus in the wake of the Serie A scandal of 2006.

After an absence of about a year, Cassano was called up by new head coach Roberto Donadoni to the Italian national team for two Euro 2008 qualifying matches in September 2006. On September 2, Cassano played the full 90 minutes against Lithuania, setting up a goal in the 1-1 draw and being arguably the best player in the team. However his performance in the next qualifying match, the 3-1 defeat by France on September 6, was unimpressive. Since then Cassano has not returned to the national team, but on September 25, 2007 Donadoni stated that he believed that Cassano is a rare talent and that the door is always open for him.

On October 30, 2006 the Real Madrid club website announced that Cassano had been temporarily suspended from the team, citing his “disrespect” of coach Fabio Capello following a dressing room argument arising from his omission from the team after a game against Gimnastic de Tarragona. According to Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport, Cassano reportedly said that he had always stood behind Capello, since their days at Roma, and asked Capello "Have you got no shame? I fought for you in Rome and this is how you repay me?". In that time Cassano joined David Beckham and Ronaldo in the unwanted players list for Capello.

Speculation abounded as to Cassano's future as a result of his outburst. He was linked with moves to Inter Milan, AC Milan, Newcastle United, S.S.C. Napoli, Fiorentina , Manchester City, and Sampdoria. In an interview with a Roman radio station, Cassano told the interviewer he would "walk all the way back to Roma", that he felt he owes the club, and that he should probably never have left in the first place. He also indicated his eagerness to make peace with Roma captain Francesco Totti with whom he fell out before his departure from Roma.

However Cassano did not leave in the January transfer window, and his continued omission from the side despite being reinstated to the first team squad was componded by an ankle injury which effectively ended his season. In an interview with Spanish radio in July 2007, the president of Real Madrid Ramon Calderon described Cassano's attitude as "unsustainable in the last couple of months" and indicated that he would be leaving the club. Cassano confirmed he had received an offer of nearly £3m per season from Sven-Göran Eriksson's Manchester City, but turned it down and went to Sampdoria.^[2]

On August 13, 2007 Sampdoria struck a deal with Real Madrid to transfer Cassano to the Genoa-based club on a one year loan. Sampdoria will pay €1.2 million of his salary, while Real will pick up the remaining €3million of the bill. Sampdoria will have the option to buy Cassano at the end of the season. He was presented to the fans on August 18 in front of 2,500 fans. In his first press conference with Sampdoria, Cassano said that he had chosen the shirt number 99 homage to his good friend Ronaldo because his favourite number 18 was taken by his team mate Vladimir Koman (and 9+9 is 18). Cassano refused to even consider taking the 10 that had been worn by Francesco Flachi, who was fired in the 2007 summer after testing positive for cocaine. Cassano was in good humour throughout, but his expression soured only when asked about former mentor Fabio Capello, who repeatedly froze him out of the Madrid squad, his answer was “No comment”. After his press conference he went right to training where he scored two goals in an intra-squad game. Cassano made his debut for Sampdoria in the Derby della Lanterna with Genoa on Sunday, September 23rd, 2007 being substituted by former Roma team mate Vincenzo Montella in the final minutes of the match. Cassano scored his first return goal to Serie A against Atlanta on September 30 in a 3-0 victory. During a match on October 28, 2007 Cassano suddenly left the pitch and made his way toward the dressing room. His team mate Montella tried to stop him, but to no avail. Afterwards it was explained that Cassano had suffered an injury so sad he immediately left without speaking to anyone. The following day Cassano denied allegations that he had a problem with Coach Walter Mazzarri following his exit from the playing field, explaining "I was disappointed and miserable, my whole world crumbled on me. I have no problem with anyone. I don't understand all of this speculation about my decision to go straight down the tunnel to the dressing room"

• Italian Super Cup: 2001

• Spanish La Liga: 2006-07

1. ^ Antonio il terribile (Italian). Gazzetta dello Sport (2006-01-01). Retrieved on 2007-07-30.
2. ^ "Después de este primer año en la presidencia, mantengo la ilusión del primer día" (Spanish). Real Madrid CF (2007-07-03). Retrieved on 2007-07-30.

• Antonio Cassano career stats at Soccerbase
• FootballDatabase provides Antonio Cassano's profile and stats

v • d • e U.C. Sampdoria – current squad
1 L. Castellazzi • 3 Ziegler • 4 Volpi • 5 Accardi • 6 Lucchini • 7 Maggio • 8 Poli • 9 Montella • 11 Bellucci • 13 Bonazzoli • 14 Sala • 16 Campagnaro • 17 Palombo • 18 Koman • 19 Franceschini • 21 Sammarco • 22 Kalu • 25 Ferrari • 28 Gastaldello • 29 Caracciolo • 33 Bastrini • 40 Del Vecchio • 46 Pieri • 50 Arnulfo • 77 Zenoni • 83 Mirante • 87 Volta • 88 Foti • 99 Cassano • Coach: Mazzarri

Awards
Preceded by Matteo Brighi	Serie A Young Footballer of the Year 2003	Succeeded by Alberto Gilardino
Preceded by Roberto Baronio	Serie A Young Footballer of the Year 2001	Succeeded by Matteo Brighi