Welcome Piccini!
The wing back comes from Valencia
Atalanta B.C. announce the signing of footballer Cristiano Piccini from Valencia on loan with option to buy.
Born in Florence on the 26th of September 1992, Cristiano is a right-back who can play both as a full back and wing back: tactically intelligent, he has a good foot and excellent technique which also allows him to be very effective in crosses. A player with international experience, both at club and international level. Piccini, in fact, also wore the Azzurri shirt and after making the appearances with U19, U20 and U21, he was called up to the senior national team by manager Mancini who made him debut on 10th October 2018 in the 1-1 friendly draw against Ukraine in Genoa. He has made three appearances for the senior national team so far: in addition to his debut, he also played in the UEFA Nations League match won 1-0 in Poland and in the 2-0 win over Finland in the European qualifiers, playing his first game as a starter for the Azzurri.
In football, after his first steps at Sporting Arno, he grew up in the Fiorentina youth academy wearing the purple jersey from 10 years old up to the first team. During his growth path he won a Scudetto with the Allievi Nazionali and a Primavera Coppa Italia, and then got to make his debut for the first team just over 18 on the 5th of December 2010 in the match won 1-0 over Cagliari replacing Pasqual with eleven minutes left. Then in 2011 he left Fiorentina to gain some experience and played first for Carrarese in the First Division of Lega Pro, then Spezia in Serie B, then Livorno in Serie A.
His international experience started in 2014. Three years in Spain at Betis Sevilla, which he contributed to bring back to the Liga on the first try, then a year in Portugal at Sporting Lisbon and in 2018 the return to Spain, this time with the Valencia shirt. Important seasons, in which he gained important experience also in the various European competitions between the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League. Now, after six years and with over two hundred matches as a professional, he return to Italy to wear the Nerazzurri shirt.
Welcome Cristiano!