Profile Christian Maggio

Personal information :

Full name : Christian Maggio
Date of birth : February 11, 1982
Place of birth : Montecchio Maggiore, Italy
Height : 1.82 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
Playing position : Right wingback , Right winger
Current club : Napoli
Number : 11
Youth career :
1997–2000 Vicenza
Senior career :
2000–2003 Vicenza
2003–2007 Fiorentina
2006 Treviso (loan)
2006–2007 Sampdoria (loan)
2007–2008 Sampdoria
2008– Napoli
National team :
2000–2001 Italy U-18
2000–2002 Italy U-20
2002 Italy U-21
2008– Italy

Career

Vicenza

Maggio began his career at Vicenza making his Serie A debut in the 2000–2001 season, finishing the campaign with six appearances. However, despite some success on a personal level, Vicenza were subsequently relegated to Serie B at the end of the season. Maggio stayed with Vicenza until 2003, making 38 appearances in total while managing to score just 1 goal.

Fiorentina

In 2003, Maggio signed for A.C.F. Fiorentina. Maggio did not appear for Fiorentina until they were promoted from Serie B for the 2004–2005 season. Overall, Maggio played 56 games for The Viola, scoring 2 goals over a 4 year period.

Sampdoria

However, it was not until Maggio signed for Sampdoria that he began to fulfill the potential he had shown when playing for Italy at youth level. Some very impressive performances during the 2007–2008 season resulted in nine goals from twenty-nine appearances. This brought him to the attention of many clubs in Italy and Europe and after feverent speculation in the Italian media, he signed for Napoli for a fee believed to be in the region of £10 million.

Napoli

During his time at Napoli he has continued to perform consistently which resulted in him making his senior international debut against Greece on November 19, 2008. His second appearance came nearly one year later on November 18, 2009 against Sweden. As both of these matches were frienlies, he is yet to make a competitive appearance at senior level. On the 24th of January 2009 Maggio scored a wonderful volley against Livorno. He took up a position near the corner of the penalty area as a long cross-field pass descended towards him. As this raking pass came across his body from his left shoulder he volleyed it first time, with great power, over the goalkeeper and the far top corner of the net. On December 6th 2010, Maggio scored a last second goal which saw Napoli three points in a 1-0 win over Palermo in the 94th minute.

Playing position

Maggio usually functions as a right midfielder/winger for Napoli since they play in a 3-5-2 formation. However he has played at right back for the majority of his career. Former Italy coach Roberto Donadoni has said that Maggio is the successor to Christian Panucci at right back. However since he started playing on the wing, his quality has improved and he is arguably better as a right winger rather than a right back considering his greatly improved attacking skills.