Carl Valeri

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Carl Valeri

Personal information
Full name	Carl Valeri
Date of birth	14 August 1984 (1984-08-14) (age 25)
Place of birth	Canberra, Australia
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Playing position	Defensive Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Sassuolo
Number	48
Youth career
2001	AIS
2002–2004	Internazionale
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2004–2005	Internazionale	0	(0)
2004–2005	→ SPAL (loan)	25	(0)
2005–2010	Grosseto	133	(7)
2010–	Sassuolo	3	(0)
National team‡
2001	Australia U-17	13	(1)
2003	Australia U-20	12	(1)
2004	Australia U-23	15	(1)
2007–	Australia	19	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16:47, 23 October 2009 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 17:30, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

Carl Valeri (born 14 August 1984 in Canberra) is a professional Australian football (soccer) defensive midfielder who currently plays for Sassuolo in the Italian Serie B. He is also a member of the Australia national football team.

[edit] Biography

Valeri is the son of former Australian National Soccer League player Walter Valeri ^[1] and his family is of Italian heritage.

[edit] Club career

He grew up in Canberra and trained at the Australian Institute of Sport on a football (soccer) scholarship.

In 2002, Valeri was signed as a teenager by Italian giants Inter Milan. He was loaned out to various clubs in Italy to gain further experience, including Grosseto, and both football clubs owned 50 percent of his contract from summer 2005 until June 2007, when Grosseto bought all the rights by blind auction between the two clubs.^[2] In January 2010 Valeri joined Sassuolo in co-ownership for Euro 250.000 fee.^[3]

[edit] International career

Valeri has played for Australia at all international youth levels; Under-17, Under-20 and Under-23.

He captained the Australian Under-17 team, the 'Joeys', at the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship and competed with the Under-23 squad, the 'Olyroos', at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

After being an unused substitute in an 2007 Asian Cup qualifier against Bahrain in 2006, the 22 year old received his second call up to the senior Australian national team in March 2007, as a replacement for the injured defensive midfielder Vince Grella.

He made his international debut on March 24, 2007 in a friendly game against China, which Australia won 2–0. This made him the 501st player to be capped for Australia. He made his home debut in a friendly against Uruguay. ^[4]

Former Socceroos coach Graham Arnold has described Valeri as a key player of the future, and possible successor to Grella. This led to certain sections of the Australian media dubbing him "Mini Vinnie."

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• (Italian) US Grosseto profile
• FFA - Socceroo profile
• OzFootball profile
• "Player of the Future" article in The Age

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