Date of birth: 2 May 1983 (age 29)
Place of birth: Prato, Italy
Height: 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[1]
Playing position: Attacking midfielder
Alessandro Diamanti (born 2 May 1983) is an Italian professional football player who is currently playing his club football as an attacking midfielder for Serie A club Bologna and the Italy national football team.
Prato
Diamanti playing for Prato in 2003
Diamanti started his football career playing for his hometown club, Prato. He was loaned to clubs in Tuscany including the newly formed Florentia Viola. In the summer of 2004, he joined U.C. AlbinoLeffe in a co-ownership deal. Having played one and a half seasons he was loaned back to Prato and at the end of season Prato bought back half of the registration rights from AlbinoLeffe.
Livorno
Having scored 15 goals in 31 outings during season 2006–07 he signed for Italian Serie A side Livorno.[2] Diamanti made 14 starts and 12 substitute appearances in his first season with the Tuscany side.[3] He followed Livorno relegated to Serie B by finished the least.
In season 2008–09 he scored 20 goals in 39 league and cup matches, helping Livorno gain promotion to Italian Serie A.
On 23 August 2009, Diamanti played in Livorno's opening day fixture in Serie A, a 0–0 home draw against Cagliari.[4]
West Ham United
The following week, however, he signed a five-year deal with English Premier League club West Ham United for an undisclosed fee (reported to be £6.0m)[5] and made his debut in the Hammers' 1–0 defeat away to Wigan Athletic on 12 September. In the process, Diamanti became the 800th player in West Ham United's history.[6] He scored his first West Ham goal from the penalty spot, albeit controversially as he fell over on run up and kicked the ball with both feet, on his home debut against Liverpool on 19 September 2009.[7] Diamanti scored eight goals, though only three came from open play with most coming from penalty kicks. On 4 May 2010 he was voted runner-up as Hammer of the Year by the club's supporters, for the 2009–10 season, behind winner Scott Parker.[8] Diamanti made one substitute appearance for West Ham in the 2010/11 season before being sold to Brescia.
Brescia
On 24 August 2010, Serie A club Brescia bought Diamanti for €2.2 million from West Ham with an additional €300,000 to be paid if Brescia secured their Serie A status from the coming campaign.[9] Brescia also announced in its financial report that Diamanti had cost €3.85 million.[10]
Alessandro was introduced in Brescia 25 August 2010, and chose to continue with shirt number 32.[11] In his debut season at Brescia, Diamanti scored 6 Serie A goals, only behind Andrea Caracciolo as top scorer of the season for the club. His sixth goal came in a 2–1 loss against Catania which confirmed Brescia's relegation to the Serie B, just one season after promotion to the Italian topflight.[12]
In July 2011 West Ham called for Diamanti's registration at Brescia to be suspended by the Italian Football Federation claiming the latest instalment of his €2.2m transfer fee from Brescia had not yet been paid.[13][14]
Bologna
On 1 August 2011, Diamanti signed by Serie A side Bologna in a co-ownership deal with Brescia, for €1.5 million.[15][16][17] Diamanti's first goal for the club came in a 3–1 home defeat to Internazionale, in Claudio Ranieri's first game in charge of the Milan club, on 24 September.[18] On 11 December, Bologna played host to the other Milan club Milan; Diamanti played inspired football and provided an assist for Marco Di Vaio's opening goal and then netted a 73rd minute goal to earn his side a 2–2 draw.[19]
Diamanti scored the winning goal of a 3–1 away victory over Lazio on 11 March 2012 with a thirty yard strike over out of position goalkeeper Federico Marchetti.[20] On 12 April, Diamanti scored an incredible free-kick against Cagliari to move his side up to 40 points and six points clear of the relegation zone.[21]
On 16 September 2012, Diamanti scored in between strikes from Alberto Gilardino to help Bologna to a 3–2 comeback victory over AS Roma at the Stadio Olimpico.[22] Diamanti put the finishing touches on a comfortable 3–0 defeat of Palermo on 18 November, netting from the penalty spot in the 48th minute.[23]
On 2 December, Diamanti netted from a free-kick as Bologna earned a hard fought 2–1 victory over Atalanta, courtesy of a second-half goal from teammate Manolo Gabbiadini.[24] Two weeks later, on 16 December, Diamanti proved instrumental in Bologna's surprise 3–2 defeat of high-flying Napoli, providing the free-kick from which Daniele Portanova headed in a minute from time to secure the victory.
International career
He made his debut with the Italian national team on 17 November 2010, for manager Cesare Prandelli, in a friendly match against Romania.[26] He played only the first-half of his debut game before being substituted.[27] In May 2012 he was named in the provisional, 32-man Italian squad for Euro 2012[28] and came on as a substitute in the match against Ireland on 18 June 2012, in the group stage.[29] In the quarter-final against England on 24 June 2012, Diamanti came on in the second half for Antonio Cassano and scored the winning penalty to give Italy a 4–2 penalty shoot-out win.[30]
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