Serie A-Player Profile: Luca Toni
The star Italian striker, Luca Toni was born on the 26th of May 1977 in Pavullo nel Frignano, Modena. He started off his professional football career at Modena, his hometown club. However, his time at Modena was short and it was followed by several seasons in second and third division Italian football leagues with clubs such as Empoli and Fiorenzuola.
In 199, after playing for a season with Treviso, Toni moved to Vicenza Calcio, a club which was playing in Serie A in 1999. Vicenza was his first top division club but he parted ways with them soon and joined Brescia Calcio where he teamed up with Italian football’s legendary figure Roberto Baggio for two footballing seasons.
In 2003, Palermo made an approach for Luca and were successful in securing his signature. Palermo were languishing in Serie B but Toni proved to be a catalyst for them as he scored thirty goals on Palermo’s way to promotion to the Serie A. His brilliant displays for the Rosanero, also impressed Marcello Lippi who was managing the Italian national team at that moment in time, on 18th of August 2004, Toni was given his first Italian national team cap in a match against Iceland.
In the 2004-2005 season, Toni scored 20 goals in Serie A and took Palermo to UEFA Cup qualification stages. After reaching iconic status at Palermo, Toni moved to their rivals Fiorentina. Till this day, Palermo’s fans display their bitter emotions because of their star strikers’ controversial decision. In his first season at Fiorentina, Luca scored 31 goals which made him one of the most consistent goal getters in the Italian league, as the goal scoring record in the Italian league at that time stood at 35 goals.
The Italian strikers goal scoring adventures pushed Fiorentina to a fourth place finish in the Italian league, which allowed them to compete in the UEFA Champions League in the 2005-2006 season. However at the end of the season, Viola were surrounded by a vicious match fixing scandal due to which they were docked 19 points and thus they lost their fourth placed finish. Luca Toni expressed his desire to leave Fiorentina during the summer transfer window which followed the Italian league match fixing scandal.
Nonetheless, Luca stayed with the Viola and helped them through their rocky times, in the 2005-2006 Toni spent most of the season on the sidelines because of several reoccurring injuries. He managed to score only 16 goals in the above stated season, which also proved to be his last one for the Italian giants.
On 30th of May 2007, Luca Toni was signed by Bayern Munich in Germany after they agreed a fee amounting to eleven million Euros with Fiorentina. In his first season with Bayern in the Bundesliga, Toni played a total number of 46 games and scored 39 goals. His performances slowly started deteriorating for the German champions, as he scored 18 in his second last season and only a single goal in his last season in Germany for Munich.
On 31st of December 2009, Toni was sent on loan by Bayern Munich to A.S Roma, who play in the Serie A. During his time at Roma, the Italian forward scored five goals in seventeen appearances. His loan spell with the Roman club ended in June and after two weeks of transfer speculation, Munich sold Luca to Genoa on 1st of July 2010.
Luca Toni is currently in the twilight of his career at 33 years of age and is waiting for the new Serie A season to get under way. He will wear the number nine jersey for his new club Genoa and will also be trying to regain his past form which saw him become a legend during his time at Palermo and Fiorentina in the Italian football league.
Tags: