Vincenzo Montella

Vincenzo Montella (born June 18, 1974 in Castello di Cisterna) is a retired Italian footballer. Currently he is the youngest head coach of Serie A, after being named at the helm of Sicilian outfit Catania on 9 June 2011.

Montella's nickname during his playing career was L'Aeroplanino ("The Little Airplane"), in a reference to his small stature and trademark goal celebration, where he spreads his arms like wings.

Club career

Montella began his club career in Serie C1 at Empoli in 1990 before moving to Serie B club Genoa in 1995, where he scored 21 goals in his only season with the club, at the end of which he lifted the Anglo-Italian Cup. He then moved up to Serie A to U.C. Sampdoria, where he remained three years, until 1999, when he moved to Roma in a 50 billion Italian lire (€25M) transfer.

Montella made his Serie A debut on 8 September 1996, against Perugia.

Roma

It was Roma coach Zdeněk Zeman that wanted him to spearhead the Roma attack, but that year Roma also signed a new coach, Fabio Capello, who disliked short forwards. Despite this, during the season 1999-00, Montella scored 18 goals, being the topscorer of the giallorossi.The following year, Roma signed the Argentinian forward Gabriel Batistuta from ACF Fiorentina, the tall striker wanted by Capello.

There was a controversy between the two forwards concerning the jersey #9, that was the number of...
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