Robert Acquafresca

Robert Acquafresca (Italian pronunciation: [ˈrɔːbert akkwaˈfreska]; born 11 September 1987) is an Italian footballer who plays as a striker. He is a free agent since 1 July 2019.[1]

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)
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
1993–2005 Torino
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2005–2009 Inter Milan 0 (0)
2005–2007 → Treviso (loan) 43 (11)
2007–2009 → Cagliari (loan) 68 (24)
2009–2011 Genoa 10 (2)
2009–2010 → Atalanta (loan) 12 (1)
2010–2011 → Cagliari (loan) 37 (8)
2011–2017 Bologna 84 (9)
2013 → Levante (loan) 13 (3)
2017 Ternana 6 (0)
2017–2019 Sion 7 (1)
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 16 (10)
2008 Italy U23 1 (0)
2008 Italy (Olympics) 4 (1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 1 July 2019

He is a former Italy under-21 international and represented Italy at the 2008 Summer 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.[2] In the 2004–05 Campionato Nazionale 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 a co-ownership deal for €35,000, in order to gain first team experience. At his new club, he partnered up with his former Torino teammate Pinga. Acquafresca 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 back the other 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.[3] 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, Acquafresca 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.[4]

After missing the first game of the season against Lazio, Acquafresca then played the next five games without opening his account, before finally scoring his first goal of the season against Torino. He scored again in his team's next home match against Chievo. On 2 November he scored two goals at home against Bologna in a 5–1 win.[5] 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 the deal that saw Diego Milito and Thiago Motta move to Internazionale,[6][7] and moved along with Leonardo Bonucci, Francesco Bolzoni, Riccardo Meggiorini[8] and Ivan Fatic.[9] He was valued at €9.5 million at that time, signing a 5-year contract.[10] He was immediately loaned to Atalanta as the club had recently sold its striker Sergio Floccari to Genoa.

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

Back to Cagliari

On 1 July 2010, Acquafresca's number 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[11] and took the number 9 shirt from Nenê. Cagliari also had an option to buy him after the loan.[12]

On 22 June 2011, Cagliari announced that the club would not exercise the right to sign him outright,[13] even though Acquafresca had been the flagship striker for Cagliari since the departure of Alessandro Matri in January 2011.

Bologna

On 19 July 2011, Acquafresca was loaned to Bologna[14] for a €500,000 fee,[15] in a 1+3 year contract worth €1.692 million in a season in gross.[15] He was the joint-top-earner of Bologna that season.[16][17]

Acquafresca re-joined coach Pierpaolo Bisoli, when in June 2011 the club sold its forward Riccardo Meggiorini back to Genoa and also signed Federico Rodríguez from Genoa. Acquafresca scored 5 goals in 20 Serie A games during his first season at the club. Bologna made Acquafresca's move permanent after the 2011–12 season, buying the player's remaining 50% registration rights for €2.5 million in a 5-year contract.[18][19][20]

Loan to Levante

On 31 January 2013, Acquafresca left for Spanish club Levante UD, after a goal drought in 6 Serie A appearances during the 2012–13 season.[21] 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 an additional €1.267 million.[22] The deals made meant that Bologna had spent €4.267 in total to acquire Acquafresca as transfer fee.

Return to Bologna

Acquafresca returned to Bologna for the 2013–14 Serie A season; however, he made 19 appearances in Serie A without scoring a goal, while Bologna were relegated to Serie B at the end of the season.[23]

In the 2016–17 pre-season Acquafresca was left out from the first team squad, partially due to a trauma in his knee.[24] He only played for Bologna as a member of the reserve team against the first team on 20 August, along with fellow first team player Luca Ceccarelli[25] who was released by the club on 31 August. Acquafresca's squad number was also changed to number 99.[26] On 1 September, a sister website of La Gazzetta dello Sport reported that the player would be left out from the first team squad in his final year of contract.[27]

Ternana

On 31 January 2017, Acquafresca was signed by Ternana.[28][29]

International career

Acquafresca has been capped for the Italian U-17, U18, U19, U20, and Under-21 sides, making his Italy Under-21 debut in a European qualifying match against Albania on 1 June 2007.[2] The Polish Football Federation, together with Polish national coach Leo Beenhakker, had also tried to convince him to play for Poland. Acquafresca, who speaks Polish, in an interview given to Gazeta Wyborcza on 14 March 2008, said that he would leave the decision to the near future.[30] On 18 March, he finally opted to refuse the Polish Football Federation offer, and instead confirmed his choice to represent Italy at international level.[31]

With the national youth team, Acquafresca finished as the third placed team in group 6 in their 2006 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship qualification campaign. With the Italian under-21 team, Acquafresca finished as the losing semi-finalist in the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, losing out 0–1 to eventual champions Germany.

With the Italy Olympic's team (de facto U21 team with overage player), Acquafresca took part at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and finished as a losing quarter-finalist to Belgium; he scored 1 goal in 4 games throughout the tournament. Acquafresca also played for the Olympic team against Romania in a friendly match,[32] as well as against Lega Pro club Borgo.[33]

References
  1. https://www.tuttomercatoweb.com/a-tu-per-tu/con-acquafresca-1303355
  2. TUTTO MERCATO WEB – Robert Acquafresca, il bomber che viaggia in Ypsilon
  3. FC Internazionale Milano 2006–07 bilancio, PDF purchased from CCIAA (in Italian)
  4. "Acquafresca's Olympic joy". Channel4. 14 July 2008. Archived from the original on 17 July 2007. Retrieved 14 July 2008.
  5. Acquafresca scored a double Retrieved on 2 November 2008
  6. "Diego Milito signs for Inter". inter.it. August 2010. Retrieved 30 June 2009.
  7. "Milito-Thiago, oggi si chiude con un incontro Moratti-Preziosi". La Gazzetta dello Sport (in Italian). 19 May 2009. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  8. "Thiago Motta signs on". inter.it (FC Internazionale Milano official site). 1 July 2009. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  9. "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.
  10. Genoa CFC 2009 annual report (PDF purchased) (in Italian). C.C.I.A.A. 28 April 2010. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  11. €1 million in half season (another €1M to be included in 2011 accounts), Genoa CFC Report and Accounts on 31 December 2010 (in Italian)
  12. "Bentornato, Robert!". Cagliari Calci (in Italian). 18 August 2010. Retrieved 19 August 2010.
  13. "Il Cagliari rinuncia ad Acquafresca, Missiroli e Laner". Cagliari Calcio (in Italian). 22 June 2011. Retrieved 22 June 2011.
  14. "Acquafresca al Bologna" (in Italian). Bologna FC 1909. 19 July 2011. Archived from the original on 9 March 2012. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  15. Bologna F.C. S.p.A. bilancio (financial report and accounts) on 30 June 2011 (in Italian)
  16. "Sfondato il miliardo I soldi delle tv in ingaggi". La Gazzetta dello Sport (in Italian). RCS MediaGroup. 8 September 2011. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  17. "Sfondato il miliardo I soldi delle tv in ingaggi: Bologna". La Gazzetta dello Sport (in Italian). RCS MediaGroup. 8 September 2011. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  18. Genoa C.F.C. S.p.A. bilancio (financial report and accounts) on 31 December 2012, PDF purchased from CCIAA (in Italian)
  19. Bologna F.C. 1909 S.p.A. bilancio (financial report and accounts) on 30 June 2012, PDF purchased from CCIAA (in Italian)
  20. "Calciomercato Genoa, il Bologna riscatta Acquafresca" (in Italian). calciomercato.it. 19 June 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  21. Acquafresca arrives to valencia for signing with Levante Archived 6 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine at the club's homepage (in Catalan)
  22. Genoa C.F.C. S.p.A. bilancio (financial report and accounts) on 31 December 2013, PDF purchased from CCIAA (in Italian)
  23. "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.
  24. "Al via il ritiro di Castelrotto" (in Italian). Bologna F.C. 1909. 10 July 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
  25. "Bologna 3-1 Bologna Primavera" (in Italian). Bologna F.C. 1909. 10 August 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
  26. "Shirt numbers of the new signed players: Krejci will wear 11, Nagy 16". Bologna F.C. 1909. 6 August 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
  27. "Acquafresca fino a fine contratto". Tutto Bologna Web (in Italian). RCSMedia Group. 1 September 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
  28. "Acquafresca alla Ternana" [Acquafresca to Ternana] (in Italian). Bologna F.C. 1909. 31 January 2017. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  29. "Dal Bologna F.C. arriva in rossoverde a titolo definitivo Robert Acquafresca" (in Italian). Ternana Calcio. 31 January 2017. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  30. Acquafresca na Euro? Polacy chcą szybkiej decyzji napastnika z Serie A
  31. "Under21: Acquafresca rimane azzurro" (in Italian). RAI Sport. 18 March 2008. Retrieved 19 March 2008.
  32. "Tie against Romania. Official list of 18+4 for Beijing". FIGC. 24 July 2008. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  33. "Beijing test. Team scores 10 goals against Borgo Buggiaro". FIGC. 18 July 2008. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
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