Antonio Cassano (born June 12, 1982 in Bari, Italy) is a footballer who
plays for club side A.S. Roma and the Italian national team. He plays
primarily as a striker.
Cassano made his Italian league debut in 1999 for Bari against local
rivals Lecce, and a week later scored a superb goal against Inter Milan,
one of the clubs who had courted Cassano before he had eventually signed
professionally with his home-town club.
The top clubs in Italy each kept a close eye on Cassano, and with rumours
of a pre-contract agreement having been signed with Roma, the player
eventually signed for the then Serie A champions in the summer of 2001.
The transfer fee of around €28m, was at that time a huge amount
to pay for a player who was still only 19 years old - Juventus president
Luciano Moggi said at the time: "Cassano is a real talent, but €28m
for a player of his age is excessive. It's too soon to understand exactly
how much he is worth."
Cassano's first season at Roma produced only five goals, but as he developed
his game he began to come to the attention of those in charge of the
national side, culminating in a scoring debut for Italy in November 2003,
against Poland. He went on to make the squad for Euro 2004, scoring in
two out of Italy's three matches.
Controversy has continually trailed Cassano as his numerous spats with
coaches at club and international level will attest. His relationship
with former Roma coach Fabio Capello was a fractious one - the pair fell
out over Cassano's omission from a practice match days after his international
debut - but Capello has himself since moved on to Juventus.
Cassano is nicknamed Peter Pan and wears the number 18 jersey for his
club.
