Paolo De Ceglie

Paolo De Ceglie (born September 17, 1986 in Aosta) is an Italian footballer who plays for Serie A club Juventus.

Club career

De Ceglie joined Juventus' youth set-up as a youngster and idolized Pavel Nedvěd. He played in various youth competitions for Juve, including the Campionato Primavera and Coppa Italia Primavera. He scored a hat-trick in Juventus' 5–1 defeat of bitter rivals Inter Milan in the 2006 Super Coppa Primavera.

When Juventus were relegated for the 2006–07 season due to the Calciopoli scandal, De Ceglie and fellow youngsters Claudio Marchisio and Sebastian Giovinco were all promoted to the first team. He made his senior team debut on November 6, 2006 for Juventus against Napoli, coming on as a substitute for Nicola Legrottaglie after 55 minutes, with the game eventually ending 1–1. His first ever senior goal came in his second game, as Juventus beat Lecce 4–1. In June 2007 he was loaned out to Serie A side Siena on a co-ownership agreement. He had a successful time there, starting nearly every match when fit and also scored twice and tallied several assists.

De Ceglie was sold back to Juventus on June 9, 2008 after his first season in Serie A with Siena. Juve paid €3.5m for the other half of his contract, which was paid in installments during the 2008–09 season. He put in some good performances, most notably in the 4–2 win over Milan in...
Read More