Mauro Camoranesi

Mauro Germán Camoranesi Serra (, ; born 4 October 1976) is an Italian football manager and former player who played as a right midfielder or right winger.

He is currently in charge as the head coach of Maltese Premier League club Floriana.

Camoranesi began his career in Argentina in 1995, where he played for Aldosivi and Banfield, also having spells in Mexico with Santos Laguna and Cruz Azul, and in Uruguay with Wanderers.

He moved to Mexico to begin his professional playing career at Santos Laguna during the 1995–96 season and scored one goal in 13 games for the team; Santos Laguna fans nicknamed him "El Cholo".

The following year, Camoranesi moved to Uruguayan club Montevideo Wanderers briefly, before returning to his homeland to play for Banfield in 1997, solidifying himself as an attacking right midfielder, while playing 38 games with 16 goals.

The following season, Camoranesi returned to Mexico as a member of club Cruz Azul, where he played from 1998 to 2000, making 79 appearances and scoring 21 goals.

In 2000, he moved to Italy, joining Verona, where his performances earned him a transfer to defending Serie A champions Juventus in 2002.

Camoranesi won the league title and the Supercoppa Italiana in his first season with the club, also reaching the Champions League final; he spent most of his career with the Turin side, also winning a second Supercoppa Italiana during his eight seasons with the Bianconeri.

He caught the attention of Serie A side Verona, and moved to Italy in 2000.

He helped the club avoid relegation in his first season with 4 goals in 22 appearances.

Camoranesi soon established himself into the starting line-up on the right wing, following an injury to Gianluca Zambrotta, and in his first season with the club, he won the 2002–03 Serie A title, and the 2002 Supercoppa Italiana, also reaching the 2003 UEFA Champions League Final; the following season, he also added the 2003 Supercoppa Italiana to his trophy cabinet.

Born and raised in Argentina, Camoranesi represented Italy at international level, making his debut in 2003.

In 2002, Camoranesi was signed by Juventus on a co-ownership deal; initially Juventus agreed a price of €1 in cash plus player deal (which Max Vieri was sold for €517,000 (or 1 billion lire) plus €2.324 million cash (or 4.5 billion lire cash)) On 26 June 2003, he was signed outright by the Bianconeri on a permanent basis for an additional fee of €5 million; this was the same day Juventus signed Marco Di Vaio in similar deal.

With Italy, he took part at UEFA Euro 2004, UEFA Euro 2008, and the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup; he also took part in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and was a member of Italy's winning squad at the 2006 World Cup.

Born in Tandil, Camoranesi was a fan of River Plate growing up.

He started his career at Club Atlético Aldosivi, 100 miles away from his hometown.

Camoranesi also won two more Serie A titles with Juventus in the 2004–05 and 2005–06 seasons, but Juventus were stripped of both of those titles as result of their involvement in the 2006 Italian football scandal, and relegated to Serie B.

Despite his agent Sergio Fortunato linking the player to clubs such as Lyon, Valencia, and Liverpool over the summer of 2006, following Juventus's relegation, Camoranesi made an announcement himself in September, pledging loyalty to Juventus: "In January, I will not ask to be sold; I'm happy to stay here."

Camoranesi put on some notable performances and contributed to a number of goals for Juventus during the 2006–07 Serie B season, scoring 4 in total, as his team won the title and earned promotion back to the Italian top flight.

Against Lecce in April 2007, he performed a manoeuvre similar to a Cruyff turn, turning the ball through a defender's legs on the wing, before retrieving it to help set up Juventus's first goal of the match.

Later in the match, he scored his side's third; Camoranesi took the ball past three Lecce defenders, before hitting the ball from the edge of the box, with his left foot into the top corner.

Just days before he had scored a header in the 2–0 victory against close title contenders Napoli.

Despite initial rumours of his departure, on 10 July 2007, he extended his contract with the club until 2010.

For the 2007–08 Serie A season, his shirt number was changed from 16 to 8.

In spite of suffering several injuries during the 2007–08 season, he scored 5 goals in 22 appearances, and also won the Guerin d'Oro award, as the player with the highest average rating.

Camoranesi changed back to number 16 jersey ahead of the 2008–09 Serie A season, and also extended his contract for another year.

After pre-season, he was often sidelined by injuries at the start of the season.

After struggling in the first few games in the start of the 2009–10 Serie A season, Camoranesi came back strongly and proved to be one of Juventus's most important players.

He scored the solitary goal against Maccabi Haifa in the Champions League, as well as a brace in a 5–2 win over Atalanta.

In 2010, he joined German side VfB Stuttgart for a season, before returning to Argentina to play for Lanús, and subsequently Racing Club, where he retired in 2014.

Following his retirement, Camoranesi began his managerial career later that year, and has since coached Mexican club Coras de Tepic and Argentine side Tigre.

On 31 August 2010, Camoranesi signed a one-year contract with Stuttgart as a free agent.

His contract with Juventus was mutually terminated on the same day.

On 26 January 2011, his contract with Stuttgart was mutually terminated, with Camoranesi admitting that he "just didn't fit in the club sporting wise, although he liked the team, the people and the city."

He expressed a desire to continue his career in Argentina.

On 2 February 2011, Camoranesi signed a two-year contract with Lanús with the option to coach youth players if he chose to retire.

In October 2011, he made headlines for kicking an opponent in the head.

In a match against Racing Club, he fouled Patricio Toranzo and was shown a red card by the referee.

Instead of walking off, Camoranesi ran back and kicked the same opponent in the head while Toranzo was still lying on the ground.

Toranzo later commented that Camoranesi is "not much of a man, just a coward" and suggested Camoranesi would need to see a psychiatrist for his violent behaviour.