Arturo Lupoli
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Arturo Lupoli | ||
Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) | ||
Position(s) | Striker | ||
Team information | |||
Current team | Grosseto | ||
Number | 7 | ||
Youth career | |||
2003–2004 | Parma | ||
2004–2005 | Arsenal | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2005–2007 | Arsenal | 1 | (0) |
2006–2007 | → Derby County (loan)[A] | 35 | (7) |
2007–2009 | Fiorentina | 0 | (0) |
2008 | → Treviso (loan) | 17 | (1) |
2008–2009 | → Norwich City (loan) | 17 | (4) |
2009 | → Sheffield United (loan) | 11 | (2) |
2009–2011 | Ascoli | 66 | (11) |
2011- | Grosseto | 0 | (0) |
International career‡ | |||
2003 | Italy U-16 | 9 | (11) |
2003–2004 | Italy U-17 | 10 | (4) |
2005 | Italy U-18 | 2 | (1) |
2005 | Italy U-19 | 6 | (0) |
2006–2007 | Italy U-21 | 5 | (2) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 18:01, 24 December 2010 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 00:00, 11 September 2007 (UTC) |
Arturo Lupoli (born 24 June 1987) is an Italian footballer who plays as a forward, currently for U.S. Grosseto. His former clubs include Parma, Arsenal and Derby County, where he spent the 2006–07 season on loan. He was renowned as having a rivalry with Italian International Giuseppe Rossi, as the media had billed the two as the future of Italian football. Despite this Lupoli has not prospered to the level of his compatriot.
Club career
Parma
Originally from Frattamaggiore, Lupoli began his footballing career with Italian side Parma. During his Allievi (Under-17) season he scored 45 goals in 22 games, one of the best tallies ever recorded in Italian youth history. However, by mid-2004 his contract had expired. Lupoli signed an Arsenal contract by way of a scholarship, the Gunners paid Parma £200,000 compensation.
Arsenal
Lupoli's debut in the Arsenal first-team was in a match against Manchester City in the Carling Cup on 27 October 2004. His next match, against Everton in the same competition, brought him his first goals for the club, two of Arsenal's three goals in the 3–1 victory on 9 November.[1] He also played in the match against Manchester United which saw Arsenal's exit from the competition. He was Arsenal's top scorer at youth/reserve level in 2004–05, with 27 goals in 32 appearances.
Lupoli scored prolifically at youth/reserve team level during the 2005–06 season, alongside Nicklas Bendtner. He also figured in the Gunners' 2005–06 League Cup campaign, winning the Carling Cup New Talent Award. He scored his third and final Arsenal goal in the 3–0 win over Reading in this campaign.[2] It was during this season that he made his only league appearance for the Gunners, in a 1–0 loss at Blackburn.[3]
Lupoli moved to Derby County on a season-long loan on August 18, 2006, and debuted for Derby in the 0–0 draw at home to Norwich City the following day. He then got a brace against Colchester United in a game which Derby lost 4–3. On January 6, 2007, Lupoli scored Derby County's first hat-trick for over a decade in a 3–1 victory third round FA Cup tie against Wrexham.
Lupoli was linked with a transfer to either of the two Milan based football giants; A.C. Milan and Internazionale. However, Pierpaolo Marino, General Manager of SSC Napoli, announced he had Lupoli's word he'd come to Napoli when his contract with Arsenal had expired, since it was his dream to play for his home city club.[4] Despite this, on February 26, 2007, Lupoli signed a pre-contract with Fiorentina. Lupoli stressed, however, that he would do his absolute best for Derby for the remainder of the season, and in his first match for Derby after confirming the Fiorentina move, scored a goal and provided an assist.
Fiorentina
Lupoli finally completed his move to ACF Fiorentina on 1 July 2007, signing a five-year deal with the Viola in a free transfer. However he never made his debut with the Tuscan side after joining Treviso F.B.C. 1993 on loan for a period.
On 22 July 2008, Lupoli moved to English Championship side Norwich City on loan for the 2008/09 season.[5] Manager Glenn Roeder's connections with Arsène Wenger are believed to have been behind the club's interest in the player.
Norwich
Following the finalisation of his loan move to the Canaries, Arturo told the club's official website "I am very happy to be here and hope to contribute for a great season for Norwich City and to be successful. I spoke to the Manager and I really feel that he wants me here. I know a lot about Norwich City – I was with Arsenal when they and my teammate David Bentley were in the Premier League and have followed their progress."
He took the squad number 18, and made his competitive debut for the club against Coventry City in a 2–0 loss. His first goals for the club came on 23 August 2008 versus Cardiff City at Ninian Park, as Norwich came from two goals behind to draw 2–2, Lupoli scoring both late on.
After spending a long time out of favour with manager Glenn Roeder, Lupoli publicly stated that he would leave the club in January if not given a run in the team.[6] In the following game, an FA Cup tie against Charlton Athletic at The Valley, he proved his worth by coming off the bench to score Norwich's equaliser after fans chanted his name throughout the match.[7] However after getting frustrated at a lack of first team football Lupoli's loan was terminated on the 2nd February 2009
Sheffield United
On February 2, 2009, Lupoli joined Sheffield United on loan until the end of the 2008/09 season.[8] He made his debut for The Blades a few days later when he was given a starting role in the Steel City Derby against local rivals Sheffield Wednesday. He needed only five minutes on the pitch to find the net but despite scoring on his debut he was unable to prevent United's loss to their bitter rivals.[9] Although suggesting he wished to stay at Bramall Lane beyond the length of his loan deal[10] he returned to Fiorentina after the Blades failed to clinch promotion having made eleven appearances and scoring two goals in a disappointing loan spell.
Ascoli
On 25 June 2009, Lupoli transferred to Ascoli in a co-ownership deal.[11]
Notes
- A. ^ Soccerbase's stats for the match between Derby County and Birmingham City on 9 March 2007 fail to include appearances by substitutes for either side, one of whom was Lupoli.[12][13] Therefore, until and unless they correct it, he should have one more appearance for Derby than given on his Soccerbase page.
References
- ^ "Arsenal 3–1 Everton". BBC. 9 November 2004. Retrieved 18 August 2009.
- ^ "Arsenal 3–0 Reading". BBC. 29 November 2005. Retrieved 6 November 2009.
- ^ "Blackburn 1–0 Arsenal". BBC. 25 February 2006. Retrieved 18 August 2009.
- ^ Goal.com – Calciomercato – Marino conferma il Napoli in pole-position per Lupoli: "Abbiamo la parola di Pasqualin"
- ^ "Lupoli joins City on loan". Norwich City F.C. 2008-07-22. Retrieved 2008-07-22.
- ^ "Lupoli threatens to quit Canaries". BBC Sport. 2009-01-02. Retrieved 2009-01-03.
- ^ "Charlton 1–1 Norwich". BBC Sport. 2009-01-03. Retrieved 2009-01-03.
- ^ "Lupoli set for Blades switch". Sky Sports News. 2009-02-02. Retrieved 2009-02-08.
- ^ "Striker on derby debut". sufc.co.uk. 2009-02-07. Retrieved 2009-02-08.
- ^ "Lupoli eyes English stay". skysports.com. 2009-04-28. Retrieved 2009-05-30.
- ^ "Comunicato Stampa". Fiorentina F.C. 25 June 2009.
- ^ "Football League Championship 09-03-2007". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
- ^ "Birmingham 1–0 Derby". BBC Sport. 9 March 2007. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
External links
- 1987 births
- Living people
- People from Brescia
- Italian footballers
- Italy under-21 international footballers
- Italian expatriate footballers
- Association football forwards
- Premier League players
- Serie A footballers
- Serie B footballers
- Parma F.C. players
- Arsenal F.C. players
- Derby County F.C. players
- ACF Fiorentina players
- Treviso F.B.C. 1993 players
- Norwich City F.C. players
- Sheffield United F.C. players
- U.S. Grosseto F.C. players
- Expatriate footballers in England
- Italian expatriate sportspeople in the United Kingdom