Serie A - Player Profile: Luca Antonini
Antonini is a professional Italian footballer, who was born in the city of Milan in Italy. He currently plays for Italy’s most famous European team, A.C Milan. Luca is usually deployed as a left back but he can also play as a winger.
The young Italian footballer started off his football career with A.C Milan and originally he played as a midfielder. He played for eleven constant years for Milan youth side until he was loaned out to Prato F.C in 2001, who played in Italian league’s third division of professional football.
He made his debut for Prato in Serie C2 and went onto make twenty six appearances. He also scored three goals during these displays for the Italian third division club side. In his second season as a footballer, he made seventeen appearances and scored a single goal in Serie B. His time in Serie B was mostly spent with Ancona on loan from A.C Milan.
Ancona due to Antonini’s spectacular performances earned promotion to Serie A, the young Italian defender impressed in the second half of the season in Serie B and regularly featured in Ancona’s starting lineup. In the summer transfer window of 2003, Sampdoria reached a deal with Milan to co-own the player and as a part of the agreement Antonini spent most of the 2003-2004 season at Sampdoria.
However, this move did not turn out to be beneficial for Luca’s career as he mostly served as a backup player and didn’t get much first team time at his new club. He made his debut for Sampdoria on 14th of December 2003 in their away match against Perugia. Antonini spent the next three years on loan to different teams in the Italian league; he spent the 2004-2005 season on loan to Modena in Serie B.
Half way through the season, in the winter transfer window, Antonini went to Pescara on loan after ending his four month loan to Modena. As the 2004-2005 season ended, Luca went to Arezzo on loan in a hope to play regular first team football. The youthful Italian succeeded in achieving this feat and played thirty nine times for Arezzo, he also scored three goals during these performances.
In the summer transfer window of 2006, Antonini went on his fourth consecutive loan spell to Siena where he played his second Serie A season; he made thirty two appearances for Siena and also scored three goals. His first goal for them came in their Serie A encounter against Fiorentina on the 26th of November, 2006. Before the 2007-2008 season started, A.C Milan bought back full contractual rights to their ex-youth team player and sent him on loan to Empoli along with their young defender Ignazio Abate.
At Empoli, Antonini made his debut in European cup competitions as he played for them in a UEFA Cup first round match against Zurich on 20th of September 2007. Empoli disappointingly got relegated at the end of the 2007-2008 season from Serie A but Luca had a good time with them due to his permanent presence in the club’s starting lineup.
For the 2008-2009 season, Milan brought the young defender back from loan and included him in their first team squad for the upcoming Italian league season. Although he did not get a lot of first team game time at Rosseneri but he did impress in the eleven league appearances he made for the Italian giants. In the 2009-2010 season, Antonini established himself in Milan’s starting lineup after he was called up time and again due to injuries to more experienced players such as Zambrotta and Jankulovski.
On 11th of February, 2010 Luca signed an extended contract with Milan which meant that he would stay at the club till 2014. Antonini will be looking to continue his brilliant displays for Milan at the full back position as the new 2010-2011 Serie A season approaches closer and closer.
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