Feature

Debutant Gabbiadini makes his mark for Italy

7 Feb 2017
Manolo Gabbiadini, Southampton

After Southampton forward strikes 400th PL goal by an Italian we celebrate past compatriots' feats

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Manolo Gabbiadini got his Southampton career off to a great start with a wonderful debut goal on Saturday, and in so doing the striker signed from Napoli last month became the scorer of the 400th Premier League goal by an Italian player.

So premierleague.com took a closer look at the Italians to have made their mark in the Premier League, greats such as Gianfranco Zola, Paolo Di Canio and Benito Carbone.

Gabbiadini, who also became Southampton's 100th PL goalscorer, is only the ninth Italian to get a goal on his PL debut (see table below) out of 66 to have played in the competition.

The first goal by an Italian was on the opening day of 1996/97, when Fabrizio Ravanelli made an instant impact for Middlesbrough with a debut hat-trick against Liverpool.

Top-scoring Italians in PL

Player Clubs  Goals
Paolo Di Canio Sheff Wed, West Ham, Charlton 66
Gianfranco Zola Chelsea 59
Benito Carbone Sheff Wed, Aston Villa, Bradford,
Derby, Middlesbrough
35
Fabrizio Ravanelli Middlesbrough, Derby 25
Graziano Pelle Southampton 23
Mario Balotelli Man City, Liverpool 21
Gianluca Vialli Chelsea 21
Massimo Maccarone Middlesbrough 18
Francesco Baiano Derby 16

Ravanelli, or the "White Feather" as he is known, went on to become the fourth-highest Italian scorer in the Premier League.

As for the highest Italian scorer, that is Paolo Di Canio who holds the record.

The former West Ham, Sheffield Wednesday and Charlton Athletic forward struck 66 times in the Premier League, and his spectacular volley for West Ham against Wimbledon on 26 March 2000 was arguably the best goal of all in the competition's history.

Paolo Di Canio, West Ham
Paolo Di Canio scored more PL goals than any Italian including this volley for West Ham against Wimbledon in 2000

As for landmark goals by Italians, Gabbiadini joins Nicola Berti, who struck the 100th in the PL, for Tottenham Hotspur in 1998, Zola, who got number 200 against Spurs in October 2000, and Manchester City's Bernardo Corradi who scored the 300th against Fulham in 2006.

Italians to score on PL debut

Italian Match Date
Fabrizio Ravanelli Middlesbrough 3-3 Liverpool 17/08/1996
Gianluca Festa Middlesbrough 4-2 Sheffield Wed 18/01/1997
Attilio Lombardo Everton 1-2 Crystal Palace 09/08/1997
Francesco Sanetti Sheffield Wed 1-3 Aston Villa 02/05/1998
Lorenzo Amoruso Blackburn 5-1 Wolves 16/08/2003
Giuseppe Rossi Sunderland 1-3 Man Utd 15/10/2005
Rolando Bianchi West Ham 0-2 Man City 11/08/2007
Federico Macheda Man Utd 3-2 Aston Villa 05/04/2009
Manolo Gabbiadini Southampton 1-3 West Ham 04/02/2017

See: Gabbiadini joins Channon and Austin

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