| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1993-08-03)3 August 1993 (age 31) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Rome, Italy | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Winger | ||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||
Current team | Napoli | ||||||||||||||||
| Number | 21 | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| 2004–2012 | Roma | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 2012–2013 | Roma | 0 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2012–2013 | →Perugia (loan) | 28 | (8) | ||||||||||||||
| 2013–2015 | Pescara | 72 | (11) | ||||||||||||||
| 2015–2019 | Sassuolo | 96 | (20) | ||||||||||||||
| 2018–2019 | →Inter Milan (loan) | 36 | (5) | ||||||||||||||
| 2019–2021 | Inter Milan | 11 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2020–2021 | →Napoli (loan) | 52 | (11) | ||||||||||||||
| 2021– | Napoli | 125 | (16) | ||||||||||||||
| International career‡ | |||||||||||||||||
| 2011–2012 | Italy U19 | 3 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2012–2014 | Italy U20 | 7 | (3) | ||||||||||||||
| 2013 | Italy U21 | 2 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2018– | Italy | 14 | (3) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 15:47, 16 March 2025 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 23 March 2025 | |||||||||||||||||
Matteo Politano (Italian pronunciation:[matˈtɛːopoliˈtaːno]; born 3 August 1993) is an Italian professionalfootballer who plays as aright winger forSerie A clubNapoli and theItaly national team.
OfCalabrian origin fromFiumefreddo Bruzio,[2][3] Politano is a youth product ofA.S. Roma, with whom he won the 2010 "Allievi" U17 league,[4] as well as the 2011Campionato Nazionale Primavera and the 2012Coppa Italia Primavera. He was the sixth highest scorer of Roma'syouth squad in the 2011–12 season (7 goals), behindJunior Tallo,Nicolás López, Gianluca Leonardi,Federico Viviani andGiammario Piscitella. In July 2012, Politano was loaned toPerugia.[5] He made his professional debut in theCoppa Italia. Politano was the starting forward in the2012–13 Lega Pro Prima Divisione, with 3 goals in first 5 league matches in September.
On 30 June 2013,Pescara signed Politano (€500,000) and Piscitella (€1.5 million) as part of the deal that Caprari returned to Roma (€2 million);[6][7][8][9] however, Caprari returned to Pescara again (€1.5 million) for Piscitella (€1.5 million) in January 2014.
On 27 June 2015, Roma bought back Politano for €601,000, with Caprari moving to Pescara outright for €125,000.[10][11]
On 2 July 2015, Serie A clubSassuolo signed Politano in a temporary deal with an option to purchase.[12] In June 2016, Sassuolo exercised their option to buy Politano.
On 30 June 2018, Politano signed forInter Milan on a season-long loan deal from Sassuolo, with an option to buy in June 2019.[13]
He made his official debut for the club on 19 August in the first match of2018–19 Serie A against his parent club Sassuolo, which ended in a 1–0 away loss.[14] On 15 September, Politano played his 100th Serie A match in a 1–0 shock loss toParma at home.[15] Two weeks later, he made his debut in theUEFA Champions League in a 2–1 comeback win overTottenham Hotspur atSan Siro in the firstgroup stage match.[16]
On 29 September, he opened his scoring account for Inter in the league match againstCagliari, netting the second with a long-range strike in a 2–0 home win.[17] During the course of2018–19 season, Politano was the most used out-field player, having made 48 appearances in all competitions; only goalkeeperSamir Handanović playing more than him. As a result, on 19 June 2019 Inter exercised their option to buy Politano from Sassuolo.[18]
However, with the appointment of head coachAntonio Conte and subsequent switch of formation from4–3–3 to3–5–2, Politano soon lost his place in the team's usual starting line-up.[19] In January 2020, Politano passed the medical atRoma and was due to be exchanged forLeonardo Spinazzola yet the transfer collapsed as Inter were not entirely satisfied with Spinazzola's physical conditions and failed at re-negotiation of the deal.[20]
On 28 January 2020, Politano moved toNapoli on a two-year loan with an obligation to make deal permanent.[21] On 29 October 2020, he scored the only goal in a 1–0 away win overReal Sociedad in the2020–21 UEFA Europa League.[22]
Politano received his firstItaly U19 call-up against theItaly U20 "C" side in December 2011. He then played two times during the team's2012 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship elite qualification campaign (featuring as a substitute forElio De Silvestro)[23] and appeared in two friendlies before the elite round of the competition.
On 5 November 2016, Politano was called up to thesenior squad for the first time for the2018 FIFA World Cup qualification match againstLiechtenstein and afriendly match againstGermany by managerGian Piero Ventura.[24] He later made his senior international debut for the national team on 28 May 2018, under managerRoberto Mancini, starting for Italy in a 2–1 friendly win overSaudi Arabia.[25] On 20 November 2018, he scored his first goal for Italy on his second cap in the 94th minute of a 1–0 friendly match win over theUnited States, held in Genk.[26]
Politano is a quick and diminutive left-footed player, with an eye for goal, who is gifted with pace, vision, good technique, anddribbling ability at speed, as well as good close control and first-time passing ability in close spaces.[13] A versatile player, he is usually deployed as a winger, and is capable of playing on either flank, as well as in numerous other attacking roles across thefront line, including as asecond striker.[27] He also possesses a good shot from distance, and is a threat fromset-pieces.[28]
On 20 November 2021, it was announced that Politano tested positive forCOVID-19, while beingasymptomatic, amid thepandemic in Italy;[29] he recovered by 29 November.[30]
Married in June 2018 to Silvia Di Vincenzo, he later became engaged toPR Ginevra Sozzi.[31] On June 17, 2021, their first daughter, Giselle, was born.[32]
| Club | Season | League | Coppa Italia | Europe | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Perugia | 2012–13 | Lega Pro | 28 | 8 | 3 | 0 | – | 4 | 2 | 35 | 10 | |
| Pescara | 2013–14 | Serie B | 31 | 6 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 32 | 6 | ||
| 2014–15 | 41 | 5 | 3 | 0 | – | 5[a] | 1 | 49 | 6 | |||
| Total | 72 | 11 | 4 | 0 | – | 5 | 1 | 81 | 12 | |||
| Sassuolo | 2015–16 | Serie A | 28 | 5 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 29 | 5 | ||
| 2016–17 | 32 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 9[b] | 3 | – | 42 | 8 | |||
| 2017–18 | 36 | 10 | 3 | 1 | – | – | 39 | 11 | ||||
| Total | 96 | 20 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 3 | – | 110 | 24 | |||
| Inter Milan | 2018–19 | Serie A | 36 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 10[c] | 1 | – | 48 | 6 | |
| 2019–20 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4[d] | 0 | – | 15 | 0 | |||
| Total | 47 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 1 | – | 63 | 6 | |||
| Napoli (loan) | 2019–20 | Serie A | 15 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2[d] | 0 | – | 20 | 2 | |
| 2020–21 | 37 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 8[b] | 1 | 1[e] | 0 | 50 | 11 | ||
| Napoli | 2021–22 | 33 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5[b] | 2 | – | 39 | 5 | ||
| 2022–23 | 27 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 9[d] | 1 | – | 37 | 4 | |||
| 2023–24 | 37 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 8[d] | 1 | 2[e] | 0 | 48 | 9 | ||
| 2024–25 | 28 | 2 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 30 | 2 | ||||
| Total | 177 | 27 | 12 | 1 | 32 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 224 | 33 | ||
| Career total | 420 | 71 | 26 | 2 | 55 | 9 | 12 | 3 | 513 | 85 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Italy | 2018 | 2 | 1 |
| 2019 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2020 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2021 | 1 | 2 | |
| 2022 | 4 | 0 | |
| 2023 | 4 | 0 | |
| 2024 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2025 | 2 | 0 | |
| Total | 14 | 3 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 20 November 2018 | Luminus Arena,Genk, Belgium |  United States | 1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly |
| 2. | 28 May 2021 | Sardegna Arena,Cagliari, Italy |  San Marino | 3–0 | 7–0 | |
| 3. | 6–0 |
Napoli
Individual
