Michele Cerofolini (born 4 January 1999) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Fiorentina.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1999-01-04) 4 January 1999 (age 23) | ||
| Place of birth | Arezzo, Italy | ||
| Height | 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Goalkeeper | ||
| Club information | |||
Current team | Fiorentina | ||
| Number | 31 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 0000–2018 | Fiorentina | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2017– | Fiorentina | 0 | (0) |
| 2018–2019 | → Cosenza (loan) | 2 | (0) |
| 2019 | → Bisceglie (loan) | 13 | (0) |
| 2020 | → Casertana (loan) | 8 | (0) |
| 2020–2021 | → Reggiana (loan) | 19 | (0) |
| 2022 | → Alessandria (loan) | 1 | (0) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2017 | Italy U18 | 4 | (0) |
| 2017–2018 | Italy U19 | 6 | (0) |
| 2018–2019 | Italy U20 | 5 | (0) |
| 2020 | Italy U21 | 2 | (0) |
|
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 6 May 2022 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 19:40, 18 November 2020 (UTC) | |||
Cerofolini is a product of Fiorentina youth teams and started playing for their Under-19 squad in the 2015–16 season at the age of 17.[1] He started making bench appearances for Fiorentina's senior squad in the 2016–17 Serie A season.[2] On 23 August 2017, he made his first appearance for Fiorentina's senior squad, coming on as an 87th-minute substitute for Bartłomiej Drągowski (becoming Fiorentina's third goalkeeper of the game) in a friendly Trofeo Santiago Bernabéu matchup against Real Madrid.[3] In 2017–18 season, he appeared on the bench in most of the Serie A games for Fiorentina, but did not play in any, remaining a backup to Marco Sportiello and Dragowski.
On 13 July 2018, Cerofolini joined Serie B club Cosenza on a season-long loan.[4] He made his professional debut in Serie B for Cosenza on 26 September 2018 in a 2–0 away defeat against Cremonese.[5] One month later, on 30 October, he played his second match for the club, a 1–1 home draw against Pescara.[6] However, in January 2019, his loan was interrupted and he returned to Fiorentina leaving Cosenza with only these 2 appearances, remaining an unused substitute for 17 times during the loan, here he was the third goalkeeper after Pietro Perina and Umberto Saracco.[7]
On 25 January 2019, Cerofolini moved on another loan, to Serie C club Bisceglie.[8] Two days later, on 27 January, he made his debut in a 1–0 home defeat against Viterbese Castrense.[9] Two weeks later, on 10 February, he kept his first clean sheet for the team in a 0–0 home draw against Trapani and two more weeks later, on 24 February, he kept his second in a 0–0 away draw against Paganese.[10][11] He became Bisceglie's first-choice in the second part of the season. Cerofolini ended his six-month loan to Bisceglie with 13 appearances, 11 goals conceded and 6 clean sheets.[7]
After appearing on the bench three times for Fiorentina in November and December 2019, on 9 January 2020 he joined Serie C club Casertana on loan.[12] Three days later, on 12 January, he made his debut for the club in a 2–2 away draw against Rende.[13] Ten more days later, on 22 January, Cerofolini kept his first clean sheet for Casertana in a 0–0 home draw against Potenza.[14] On 9 February he kept his second clean sheet in a 0–0 home draw against Bisceglie.[15] Cerofolini ended his six-month loan to Casertana with eight appearances, eight goals conceded and two clean sheet.[7]
On 20 August 2020, Cerofolini was loaned to newly promoted Serie B club Reggiana on loan for the 2020–21 season.[16]
On 28 January 2022, he joined Alessandria on loan.[17]
Cerofolini was first chosen to represent his country when he was called up to Italy national under-18 football team for a series of friendlies in February 2017.[18]
Later in the same year he began to be called up to the Under-19 squad, and eventually was included in Italy's roster for the 2018 UEFA European Under-19 Championship, in which Italy was the runner-up to Portugal. He did not make any appearances at the tournament, serving as back-up to Alessandro Plizzari.[19]
In the fall of 2018 he was included in Italy's Under-20 squad and played in 2018–19 Under 20 Elite League games.[20]
On 13 October 2020, he made his debut with the Italy U21 playing as a starter in a qualifying match won 2–0 against Republic of Ireland in Pisa.
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Europe | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Cosenza (loan) | 2018–19 | Serie B | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 2 | 0 | ||
| Bisceglie (loan) | 2018–19 | Serie C | 13 | 0 | — | — | — | 13 | 0 | |||
| Casertana (loan) | 2019–20 | Serie C | 8 | 0 | — | — | — | 8 | 0 | |||
| Career total | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 23 | 0 | ||||
Italy U19
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ACF Fiorentina – current squad | |
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