Nicolo Zaniolo, the Italian midfielder born on 7 July 1999, currently features in Atalanta's central midfield at the prime age of 25. Standing tall at 6 feet tall (1.85metres) and weighing in at 12st 6lb (79kg), Zaniolo isn't shy of physicality on the pitch. Carrying the legacy of the number 10 jersey, he has also taken the pitch for the Italian national team.
Zaniolo's present market value hovers around the £16.5m mark, as sourced from Transfermarkt. His Atalanta contract has a remaining term of 9 months, due to end on 30 June 2025.
His professional career began with a stint at Fiorentina in the Serie A. Zaniolo then moved to Entella in the Serie C in August 2016 for approximately £340k. He managed to make seven appearances for the first team in his debut season with Entella. He then found himself again on the move in July 2017 to Inter Milan in the Serie A for a round £1.5m.
In July 2018, Zaniolo made another move over to Roma. Throughout the 2018 - 2019 season, Zaniolo was quite involved, amassing 27 appearances and scoring four goals. He kept a steady pace in the 2019 - 2020 season with 26 appearances and six goals. However, his 2021 - 2022 and 2022 - 2023 seasons saw a slight decline in his usual performance, ending those seasons with two and one goals respectively.
His career then took an interesting turn as Zaniolo transferred to the Turkish Süper Lig team, Galatasaray, in February 2023 for an undisclosed fee. His 2022 - 2023 season was quite successful, as he managed to score five goals in just ten appearances. This was followed by a loan spell at Aston Villa in the English Premier League in August 2023. During the period of his loan in the 2023 - 2024 season, Zaniolo recorded two goals from 25 appearances.
After his loan ended, Zaniolo returned to Galatasaray for the 2022 - 2023 season, where he proceeded to repeat his previous success with the club by scoring five goals in ten games. He then found himself on loan again, this time at Atalanta in Serie A, Italy. So far in the current season of 2024 - 2025, he has made four league appearances.
Zaniolo has also represented Italy in the Euro Qualifiers 2022 - 2024 and Atalanta in the Champions League 2024 - 2025. He began two games and made a further two appearances as a substitute during the Euro qualifiers. For Atalanta in the Champions League, he has entered the fray as a substitute in three games.
