Roberto Soriano

Roberto Soriano (born 8 February 1991) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Spanish club Villarreal CF and the Italian national team. He is the younger brother of Elia Soriano.

Club career

Early career

Soriano was born in the German city of Darmstadt to a family from Sperone, Province of Avellino, Italy. He started his career with Bayern Munich after being spotted by their scouts in the 2007 Champions Youth Cup while playing for Die Roten.

Sampdoria

On 2 February 2009, Soriano moved to Italian club Sampdoria for an undisclosed fee. Soriano immediately entered Sampdoria's Primavera, or youth team, for the 2009 Torneo di Viareggio, where the Genoa based club finished as runners-up. In the 2009–10 season, Sampdoria were eliminated in the semi-finals at the Campionato Nazionale Primavera, in which Soriano played.

Empoli

In June 2010, he was loaned to Serie B side Empoli. Soriano made his club debut on 15 August 2010 in a friendly against Reggiana. Soriano was substituted by Gianluca Musacci during the second half. Empoli went on to win that match 4–1. He made his Serie B debut in Empoli's first Serie B match of the season as a defensive/holding midfielder along with Davide Moro. He was substituted for Mirko Valdifiori in the 66th minute. Empoli drew that game 1–1 against Frosinone. However, Empoli would win the away match 3–2. Soriano started from the bench in the next match, losing his starting spot to Gianluca Musacci. He returned to the starting XI in Empoli's 5th Serie B game of the season, and played as a central/defensive midfielder, a position he would be utilized in during the next 2 rounds (4–4–2 formation and 4–3–1–2 formation). On 11 December, he scored his first Serie B goal in the game against Portogruaro.

On 31 August 2015, Soriano signed a contract with Napoli worth €13.5m with Juan Camilo Zúñiga set to join Sampdoria as part of the deal, but the transfer fell through because Napoli did not deposit the contract with Lega Serie A before the 23:00 deadline. It is believed the delay was mainly due to disputes about image rights.

Villarreal

On 2 August 2016, Spanish club Villarreal CF and Sampdoria reached an agreement for the transfer of Soriano. He signed a five-year contract, for a reported fee of €14 million. Soriano made his club debut in a 1–1 away draw against Granada in La Liga, on 20 August.

International career

Youth team

Soriano played all three matches in the 2008 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship elite round. He also received a call-up to the 2008 Minsk under-17 International Tournament. He scored a goal in the third place match. Soriano was to receive a call-up from the Italian under-19 side for the game against Romania in December 2008. He was included in Italy's starting line-up for this match. The game finished 3–1 to Italy. Soriano received a call-up to all upcoming U18/19 matches, played in the friendly against Norway in March, was an unused substitute against Ukraine (born 1990 class) in April and also appeared in an U18 international tournament in Slovakia. In August 2009, he was promoted to the U21 team aged 18½, for the match against Wales. Coach Pierluigi Casiraghi called-up 6 new players in for that match, only Mattia Perin (born in November 1992) and Lorenzo Crisetig (born in January 1993) were younger than Soriano. He made his debut in the first match of U21 qualification, a 1–2 loss to Wales on 4 September 2009. Soriano was also involved in two of Italy's qualification matches in September and October. On 17 November, he opened the scoring for Italy in a 0–4 victory away against Luxembourg. In January 2010, Soriano returned to the U19 team and played in the elite qualification round and in the final of the tournament. On 3 September 2010, he returned to the U21 team and scored the winning goal for Azzurrini in the second last qualifying match. Italy must win the last 2 matches and depends the result of Wales verse Hungary (which Hungary lost eventually, certainly finished second or below). Soriano played the last match of the qualifying, substituted Marrone in the 56th minute. Italy won Wales 1–0 and made Italy ahead Wales as the first of Group 3, qualified directly to play-offs round while Wales eliminated .

In the play-offs round, he received the call-up but failed to enter the line-up nor on the bench in the first leg.

Senior team

On 9 November 2014, he was called up by Antonio Conte to the senior Italy squad ahead of a UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying match against Croatia and a friendly against Albania. He debuted against Croatia at the San Siro on the 16th, replacing Manuel Pasqual in the 28th minute of a 1–1 draw.

Career statistics

Club

International