Domenico Morfeo

Domenico Morfeo
Personal information
Date of birth (1976-01-16) 16 January 1976
Place of birth Pescina, Italy
Height 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Playing position Attacking Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Retired
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1993–1996 Atalanta 83 (22)
1997–2002 Fiorentina 46 (7)
1998–1999 → Milan (loan) 11 (1)
1999–2000 → Cagliari (loan) 5 (1)
2000 → Verona (loan) 10 (5)
2001 → Atalanta (loan) 17 (5)
2002–2003 Internazionale 17 (1)
2003–2008 Parma 101 (16)
2008–2009 Brescia 0 (0)
2009 Cremonese 4 (0)
2010–2011 San Benedetto dei Marsi
National team
1995–1997 Italy U21 / Olympic 7 (1)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.


Domenico Morfeo (born 16 January 1976 in Pescina) is a retired Italian football player, who played in the position of attacking midfielder. Despite being considered by several pundits, in his youth, as one of the most precociously talented players ever to come out of Italy in recent years, due to his excellent technique, creativity, passing, dribbling, and playmaking ability, he never reached his full potential.[1][2]

Club career

After joining the Atalanta B.C. youth academy in 1988, at the age of 14, Morfeo enjoyed a highly successful youth career with the Bergamo primavera squad, under manager Cesare Prandelli, winning the Campionato Allievi in 1992, and later the Trofeo Dossena, the Campionato Nazionale Primavera, and the Torneo di Viareggio in 1993, establishing himself as one of Italy's most promising under-21 players.[3] Morfeo subsequently began his professional career with the senior Atalanta B.C. side, making his Serie A debut later that year, at the age of 17, during the 1993–94 season. After helping Atalanta to gain Serie A promotion during the 1994–95 season, he soon came to prominence with the club, scoring 11 goals in 30 league appearances during the 1995–96 season, at the age of 19 the before moving to Fiorentina in 1997 for undisclosed fee. During his time in Florence, he struggled to find playing time, although he spent short spells at many top Italian clubs, including Milan and Inter, also playing with Cagliari and Verona, and briefly returning to Atalanta During this time, however, he ultimately failed to consistently replicate the quality performances he had managed with Atalanta. With Inter, however, he narrowly missed out on the 2002–03 Serie A title, also reaching the Champions League semi-finals with the club.[2][4][5]

Morfeo later spent five seasons with Parma, from 2003 to 2008. He then agreed to start the 2008–09 season with Serie B club Brescia Calcio, but on October 2008 he ultimately decided to retire from football citing lack of motivation. On January 2009 he stepped back on his decision and returned to play football for the second half of the season with Cremonese, in the lower divisions; he fully retired from football in 2011, after a season with San Benedetto dei Marsi.[6] He won his only professional trophy, the Serie A title, with Milan during the 1998–99 season.[2][4][7][8]

International career

Morfeo has never been capped by the Azzurri at senior level. At Under-21 level, under Cesare Maldini, he was one of the key players in Italy's victorious 1996 UEFA European Under-21 Championship campaign, scoring the decisive penalty in the final shoot-out against Spain; the same year, he represented the youth side at the 1996 Olympics. In total, he managed 7 appearances with the under-21 side, scoring 1 goal for the Azzurrini.[9]

Honours

Club

Milan[2]

International

Italy under-21[2]

References

  1. ↑ "Il genio inespresso: Domenico Morfeo" (in Italian). Retrieved 29 January 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "MORFEO, DI NOME E DI FATTO" (in Italian). Retrieved 29 January 2015.
  3. ↑ "Domenico Morfeo: Sogni di Gloria" (in Italian). Retrieved 29 January 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Scheda anagrafica di Domenico Morfeo" (in Italian). AIC. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
  5. ↑ "Domenico MORFEO" (in Italian). Retrieved 29 January 2015.
  6. ↑ "Sporting Pescina-San Benedetto Dei Marsi= 2-1" (in Italian). Retrieved 29 January 2015.
  7. ↑ ""La gente purtroppo si ricorda sempre la fine". Breve storia di Domenico Morfeo" (in Italian). 12 February 2014. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
  8. ↑ "Carriera di MORFEO, DOMENICO" (in Italian). Tutto Calciatori.net. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
  9. ↑ "Convocazioni e presenze in campo: Domenico Morfeo" (in Italian). FIGC. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
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