Giuseppe Rossi

Giuseppe Rossi (born 1 February 1987) is an American-born Italian footballer who plays as a striker for Spanish club Villarreal CF and the Italian national team. He holds dual Italian and American citizenship.

Early life

Rossi was born to Italian immigrant parents in Teaneck, New Jersey; his father, Fernando Rossi, coached soccer and taught Italian and Spanish at Clifton High School. His mother, Cleonilde Rossi, was also a language teacher at Clifton. At age 12, he moved to Parma, Italy with his father to begin his youth career at Parma.

Club career

Early career

When offered a spot on the youth team of Parma, Rossi (then 12) and his father moved to Italy until Manchester United bought his contract when he was 17. He scored his only Premier League goal with a long range effort in a 3–1 win over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

At the start of the 2006–07 season, Rossi moved to Newcastle United on loan until January 1, 2007, where he was expected to gain some first team experience. He made his home debut on September 24, 2006. Rossi scored his only Newcastle goal in his first start on October 25, 2006, against Portsmouth in a Carling Cup Third Round tie at St James' Park.

For the second half of the season, he was again loaned out, this time to his former club, Parma. Scoring nine goals in 19 league...
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