Full Name : Leonardo Bonucci Date Of Birth:May 1, 1987 (age 23) Place of Birth:Viterbo, Italy Height:1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) Position:Center Back Current Club:Bari National Debut:2010 Caps:1 (0)
Leonardo Bonucci (born 1 May 1987) is an Italian footballer who plays as a defender for Serie A club Bari and the Italian national team.
Club career Internazionale
Bonucci started his career at Viterbese but was loaned to Internazionale in the summer of 2005.
Bonucci made his Serie A debut in the last match of 2005–06 season, against Cagliari Calcio. At the end of the season, Inter bought Bonucci outright.
He played his first Coppa Italia match against Messina on 9th November 2006 when he came off the bench for substitute Fabio Grosso in the 86th minute. Bonucci featured in two more Coppa Italia games for Inter that season when he was brought on for the substituted Walter Samuel at half-time during the quarter final second leg match against Empoli and as a starter in the semi final second leg tie against Sampdoria.
In January 2007, 50% of Bonucci's registration rights were sold to Treviso by Inter along with 50% of the registration rights for fellow Primavera Team team-mate Daniel Maa Boumsong. Bonucci subsequently remained at Inter until June 30th while Maa Boumsong returned from Treviso where he spent the first half of the season on loan. During Bonucci's last season with Inter's U-20 Youth Team, he won the Italian "Primavera" U20 Youth League. Treviso & Pisa
On 1 July 2007, along with Maa Boumsong they officially became Treviso player. To compensate Treviso that sold Robert Acquafresca back to Inter in June, Inter sold Federico Piovaccari in co-ownership deal, made there were 3 players joined Treviso from Inter that season. At Treviso, Bonucci played 20 starts in 27 Serie B appearances as one of the regular starter.
In June 2008, Bonucci was the only player that bought back by Inter from Treviso but he was remained at Treviso on loan. To compensate Treviso (for Bonucci and mid-season signing Riccardo Bocalon and Jacopo Fortunato) and to give a chance to youth players, Treviso hired Gianluca Litteri and Daniele Pedrelli in co-ownership deal.
Bonucci played 13 Serie B matches for Treviso before left for another Serie B struggler Pisa Calcio on loan. Bari
On June 8, 2009, Bonucci underwent a medical examination at Genoa. On July 1, Inter officially announced Bonucci, along with Robert Acquafresca, Francesco Bolzoni and Riccardo Meggiorini, transferred to Genoa, as part of the deal that sent Thiago Motta and Diego Milito to Inter. Moreover, Ivan Fatić who co-owned between Chievo and Inter, became co-owned between Chievo and Genoa.
But on 2 July he was transferred to Bari from Genoa, on a co-ownership deal, along with Meggiorini (co-ownership deal), Matteo Paro (co-ownership deal), Andrea Ranocchia (loan) and Giuseppe Greco (loan).
At Bari he has become first choice in central defence under head coach Giampiero Ventura, showing a composed yet strong and effective defensive style. He has formed an extremely strong partnership with Andrea Ranocchia which has been so effective that, as of the midway point in the 2009–10 season, Bari have the second best defensive record in Serie A. The strong partnership ended after Ranocchia injured in mid-season and ruled out from rest of the fixture.
International career
Bonucci never received a call-up from Italy's youth team; but after an impressive 2009-10 season at Bari, he received his first call-up from Italy senior team for a friendly match against Cameroon on 3 March 2010. Then he was included by Marcello Lippi in the starting line-up along with national team regulars Fabio Cannavaro and Giorgio Chiellini to form the defense line in a 3–4–3 formation.
