Do You Remember Him #4- Alberto Gilardino

Biodata

Full Name: Alberto Gilardino

Nationality: Italian

Date of Birth: 5 July 1982

Position: Striker

Former Clubs:

1999- 2000 Piacenza

2000- 2002 Hellas Verona

2002- 2005 Parma

2005- 2008 AC Milan

2008- 2012 Fiorentina

2012- 2014 Genoa

2012- 2013 Bologna (loan)

2014- 2015 Guangzhou Evergrande

2015 Fiorentina (loan)

2015- 2016 Palermo

2016- 2017 Empoli

2017 Pescara

2017- 2018 Spezia

International Career:

2004- 2013 Italy

Achievement:

AC Milan

2006- 2007 UEFA Champions League

2007 UEFA Super Cup

2007 FIFA Club World Cup

Guangzhou Evergrande

2014 Chinese Super League

Italy

2006 FIFA World Cup

Career

Italian national team isn’t just solely known by its strength in defence and the midfield maestro in international football. Italy had also produced a lot of strikers, especially in recent decades. The likes of Alessandro Del Piero, Christian Vieri, Francesco Totti and Luca Toni was always remembered among the Italian fans. However, there is also a good looking forward who was competing with the strikers aforementioned in the national team and helped his nation won the World Cup in 2006. So, who is he?

Alberto Gilardino started his footballing career in Piacenza and handed a debut by the coach of Piacenza at the time, Luigi Simoni at the age of 17. He made an impact in his season by scoring 3 goals in 17 matches in that season at a young age despite Piacenza suffered relegation to Serie B. Gilardino’s form wasn’t go unnoticed as Hellas Verona signed him in a co-ownership deal. His red hot form continues as he scored 3 goals and registered one assist to help Hellas Verona avoid relegation. In the next season, Gilardino was bought by Parma in a co-ownership deal and loan back to Hellas Verona. However this time, Gilardino could not help his team to avoid relegation.

With the strong suggestion from Cesare Prandelli, Parma coach at the time, Parma had purchased the remained 50% of Gilardino’s registration rights and signed his former teammate in Hellas Verona, Adrian Mutu as well. However, Adriano and Mutu was the first choice strike partnership in the 2002-2003 season of Serie A. He still managed to score four goals in 24 appearances in the league. However little did he realised, Gilardino will have a breakthrough campaign next season. He scored 23 goals in each of the last two seasons in Parma and being the second-highest goalscorers in both seasons. Lost both to Andriy Shevchenko and Cristiano Lucarelli respectively. In the same period, he was nominated as the Serie A Young Footballer of the year in 2004.

On July 2005, Gilardino made a huge 25mil Euro transfer to AC Milan. He scored 17 goals in 34 Serie A appearances and nominated has the Serie A Footballer of the Year in 2005. With his red hot form in the league, he was selected by Marcello Lippi in the Italian national squad for World Cup 2006, in which they eventually won. His major contribution in the tournament is providing the vital assist for Alessandro Del Piero’s winning goal against Germany in semi-finals. After winning the World Cup 2006, Gilardino carries his form in the next season as he is the only player who scored double figures in that season.

However, Gilardino’s last season in AC Milan was not as smooth as he expected. He expressed his disappointment for not featuring much in the 2006-2007 Champions League finals when AC Milan won. He had also been relegated to the third striker behind Filippo Inzaghi and Alexandre Pato. Gilardino was subsequently moved on to Fiorentina on the next season. He revived his career in Florence as he scored at least double figures in every complete season. The climax of his career in Fiorentina was in 2008-2009 season, where he scored 20 goals and 6 assists in every competition.

After his stint in Fiorentina ended, Gilardino started his nomadic career in Italian and Chinese football league. He moved on to several football clubs such as Genoa, Bologna, Guangzhou Evergrande, Fiorentina and Palermo. Gilardino is still having his goal-scoring ability in every club that he played for. Most notably help Guangzhou Evergrande to win the Chinese Super League in 2014. However, his goal-scoring form has been declined when he moved to Empoli and Pescara. Which he failed to register any single goals in both clubs. Gilardino ended his football career in Spezia in the year 2018.

Post Retirement

Alberto Gilardino has moved into management after his retirement from football. He received his UEFA A ad UEFA B coaching licenses in 2018. He was named as the assistant coach and technical director in Serie D side Rezzato. On February 2019, he was promoted to head coach. On July 2019, Gilardino was appointed manager of Pro Vercelli. His Pro Vercelli side is currently in 11th place in Group A of Serie C. Wish he could return to Serie A as a manager in the future.