Ciro Immobile is an Italian footballer, who currently plays as a striker for Bundesliga
club Borussia Dortmund.
He began his career at Juventus in 2009, and was not a regular player there, being loaned
out to three different clubs before moving to Genoa in 2012.
After a season there, he moved to Juventus' rivals Torino.
In his only season at Torino, he won the Capocannoniere for top scorer in Serie A, with 22 goals in
33 games.
Immobile made his debut for the Italy national football team in 2014 and was included in
their squad for that year's World Cup.
Club career Early career
Born in Torre Annunziata, Italy, Immobile began his youth career with Sorrento, with
who he scored 30 goals in the U-17 during the 2007–2008 season, impressing observers
of Serie A giants, Juventus F.C..
In 2008, at the age of 18, he was signed for 80 thousand euro, under the recommendation
of Ciro Ferrara by Juventus to play with the Primavera.
Juventus Immobile joined the Primavera squad in 2009,
where he formed a striking partnership with Ayub Daud that led the squad to win the 2009
Torneo di Viareggio, where he scored a total five goals; two of which came in the final.
On 14 March 2009, Immobile made his Serie A debut in a 4–1 home win against Bologna,
replacing Juventus' captain Alessandro Del Piero in the 89th minute, in a game where
his youth system teammate Daud also made his Serie A debut, replacing Sebastian Giovinco
a minute earlier.
On 25 November 2009, Immobile also made his debut in a European competition, again as
a second-half substitute for Alessandro Del Piero in a Champions League game against Bordeaux.
In February 2010, he scored a hat-trick against Empoli in the 2010 Torneo di Viareggio final
to seal the title for a second consecutive season.
Following the 2010 Torneo di Viareggio, Immobile was promoted from the youth team squad.
On 1 July 2010, Immobile, along with teammate Luca Marrone, were sent on loan to recently
relegated Serie B side A.C. Siena.
In exchange for the two loans, Juventus acquired Niccolò Giannetti, Leonardo Spinazzola, and
Austrian midfielder Marcel Büchel on loan from the Tuscan club.
Immobile never broke into the first team, however, and in January 2011, he left Siena,
after just 4 appearances and 1 goal.
Following his departure from Siena, he was immediately loaned by Juventus to Grosseto,
another Serie B club for the remainder of the 2010-11 Serie B season.
Immobile made his debut for the club on 29 January 2011, in a 0–1 away win over Vicenza
Calcio.
He finished the campaign with 16 appearances for Grosseto before returning to Juventus
omn 30 June 2011.
Pescara On 17 August 2011, it was announced that Immobile
would join Serie B club Pescara on a season-long loan from Juventus.
He scored his first goal for the club on 26 August during his debut for Pescara in the
first league match against Hellas Verona.
By the end of the Serie B andata, Immobile had already scored 14 league goals.
On 30 January 2012, Genoa confirmed that they had paid €4 million for half of the player's
rights from Juventus, following his mercurial form in Serie B. He completed his season with
Pescara in the Italian second division, as the club won the league title and sealed promotion
to the Serie A. He also went on to become the Serie B season's top scorer with a total
of 28 goals, seven more than the second-highest scorer, Juve Stabia's Marco Sau.
Immobile was also named the Serie B's Player of the Year.
On 20 June 2012, Immobile's co-ownership agreement was renewed by Juventus and Genoa, with the
Ligurian side maintaining his registration rights for the 2012-13 Serie A campaign.
For the €4 million transfer fee, Juventus converted into the purchase of Richmond Boakye's
50% registration rights in July 2012.
Genoa Immobile formally became a Genoa player on
1 July 2012 after the loan with Pescara expired.
On 26 August 2012, Immobile scored his first Serie A goal in the home match won 2–0 against
Cagliari.
He scored his second on 16 September against his co-owners Juventus in his club's 1–3
loss home at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
He also scored a goal in back-to-back games against Napoli and Sampdoria on 11 and 18
November, respectively, as Genoa failed to win either game.
He finished the season with five goals scored in 33 Serie A appearances, failing to score
a goal in the 2013-half of the season as Genoa finished in 17th place, just escaping relegation.
On 19 June 2013, Genoa and Juventus again renewed the co-ownership agreements of Immobile
and Boakye.
Torino
On 12 July 2013 Juventus bought Genoa's half of Immobile for €2.75 million.
On the same day he was sold to city-rivals Torino under a new co-ownership deal for €2.75
million.
Immobile was the third Torino signing from Genoa, following defenders Cesare Bovo and
Emiliano Moretti.
He made his debut for Torino during the first round of the Coppa Italia against former club
Pescara, scoring his first goal of the season.
He provided an assist in his Serie A debut for the club, but did not score until 7 October
in a 2–2 draw against Sampdoria.
Previously, Immobile had failed to score in Serie A since December 2012.
The goal signalled a run of form for Immobile, with the player scoring a further 12 goals
in his next 15 matches, including his first brace in Serie A during a game against Chievo
Verona in December.
On 22 March 2014, Immobile scored his first Serie A hat-trick, in a 3–1 win against
Livorno.
Three days later, he scored a spectacular volley with his left foot against Roma, temporarily
bringing the Granata level at the Stadio Olimpico.
On 6 April, he scored the winning goal against Catania in a 2–1 victory.
On 13 April, Genoa were leading 1–0, when Immobile and Alessio Cerci both scored in
stoppage time to give Torino a 2–1 win.
He scored again in the following round in a 3–3 draw away to Lazio.
On 27 April, Immobile scored for the sixth consecutive match in a 2–0 defeat of Udinese.
This took him to 21 goals in the season, equaling the seasonal goal records of Paolo Pulici
and Francesco Graziani at Torino.
On 11 May, Immobile scored in the penultimate fixture of the season against Parma, but was
sent off in the second half and suspended for the final match against Fiorentina.
He concluded his season with 22 goals in 33 appearances, plus one goal in the Coppa Italia.
He became the first Torino player to win the Capocannoniere since "Ciccio" Graziani in
the 1976–77 season.
Borussia Dortmund On 2 June 2014 Immobile was sold to Bundesliga
club Borussia Dortmund, despite the co-ownership agreement between Torino and Juventus not
being resolved.
Urbano Cairo, the president of Torino, accused Juventus and Dortmund of violating FIFA regulation
regarding transfer on 10 May 2014, which FIGC also states that such transfers must have
mutual consent of the co-owners.
Cairo also wanted to keep Immobile for at least a season for sports and for profit.
On 18 June 2014, Juventus sold the remaining 50% registration rights of Immobile to Torino
for €8 million.
International career Immobile made his Italy under-19 debut in
a 2009 European Championship qualifier in October 2008, but Italy failed to make it
to the play-offs.
On 25 March 2009, he made his debut with the Italy under-21 squad in a friendly match against
the Austrian under-21s.
He scored his first goal at the U-21 level at his second appearance, on 25 April 2012,
in a friendly match won 4–1 against Scotland.
He also scored against the Netherlands when he dribbled past three defenders and chipped
the keeper.
He was selected as a member of the Italy U-21 squad for the 2013 UEFA European Under-21
Football Championship in Israel, along with Genoa teammate Andrea Bertolacci.
On 2 March 2014, he received his first call-up to the senior national team by Cesare Prandelli,
for a friendly match against Spain three days later.
He made his debut as a substitute with for Alessio Cerci after 69 minutes as Spain eventually
won 1–0.
On 13 May 2014, Immobile was named in Italy's provisional 30-man squad for the 2014 FIFA
World Cup, and on 1 June he was named in the final 23-man squad.
On 8 June, he scored a hat-trick in the Azzurri's final World Cup warm-up match, a 5–3 defeat
of Brazilian club side Fluminense.
Immobile made his competitive debut in Italy's opening 2–1 win over England in Manaus on
14 June, playing the last 17 minutes in place of Mario Balotelli who scored the Italian
winner.
Career statistics As of 2 June 2014
Club International
As of match played 24 June 2014 Honours
Club Youth Competition
Torneo di Viareggio: Juventus: 2009; 2010
National Competition Serie B:
Pescara: 2011–12 Individual
Torneo di Viareggio Top Scorer: Juventus: 2010
Torneo di Viareggio Best Player: Juventus: 2010
Serie A top scorer: 2013–14
Serie B top scorer: 2011–12
Gran Galà del calcio AIC: Best player of Serie B: 2012
References
External links Profile for the 2014 World Cup
Statistics on Soccerway