Rodney Strasser (born 30 March 1990) is a Sierra Leonean professional footballer who plays as a midfielder.[2]
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Rodney Strasser | ||
| Date of birth | (1990-03-30) 30 March 1990 (age 32) | ||
| Place of birth | Freetown, Sierra Leone | ||
| Height | 1.81 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)[1] | ||
| Position(s) | Defensive midfielder | ||
| Club information | |||
Current team | Cattolica | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2006–2007 | Kallon | ||
| 2007–2010 | Milan | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2008–2013 | Milan | 6 | (1) |
| 2011–2012 | → Lecce (loan) | 12 | (1) |
| 2013 | → Parma (loan) | 2 | (0) |
| 2013–2017 | Genoa | 0 | (0) |
| 2013–2014 | → Reggina (loan) | 22 | (0) |
| 2015 | → Livorno (loan) | 2 | (0) |
| 2015–2016 | → Lupa Castelli Romani (loan) | 16 | (1) |
| 2016 | → NK Zagreb (loan) | 12 | (0) |
| 2016–2017 | → Gil Vicente (loan) | 12 | (0) |
| 2018–2019 | Villafranca | 14 | (0) |
| 2020 | TPS | 7 | (0) |
| 2021–2022 | Cattolica | 6 | (0) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2010– | Sierra Leone | 12 | (0) |
|
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 19:35, 28 September 2022 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 27 March 2021 | |||
Born in Freetown, Strasser began his career at local club Kallon, before moving to Italy to join Milan in 2007.[3] During his time in Milan's youth system, he was a member of the under-20 side, who won the 2009–10 Coppa Italia Primavera.[4] He made his first-team debut on 21 December 2008, in a 5–1 win against Udinese, coming on as a substitute for Kakha Kaladze in the 82nd minute.[5][6]
On 20 July 2010, Milan announced that half of the rights to Strasser had been purchased by Genoa for €2.25 million,[7] as part of the deal that saw defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos move to Milan.[8] Strasser, however, would stay at Milan on loan,[9] joining the first-team squad permanently. His first appearance of the season was in a UEFA Champions League group stage 2–0 win against Auxerre – which also marked his debut in European club competition – on 23 November.[10] He went on to score his first professional goal in a 1–0 league win over Cagliari, on 6 January.[11]
In May 2011, his co-ownership was dissolved in favour of Milan for the same price and renewed his contract to June 2016.[12][13] (with Papastathopoulos moved back to Genoa),[14] but Strasser subsequently joined Lecce on loan.[15] He appeared in 13 games and scored one goal for his new team, before suffering a broken ankle in a game against Juventus on 9 January and subsequently being called back to Milan to undergo rehabilitation.[16] He made his return on 10 April, coming on as a substitute in the second half of a game against Chievo, which Milan won 1–0.[17] At the start of the following season, Strasser sustained another injury which would rule him out for three months.[18] After recovering he struggled to get playing time, making only one Coppa Italia appearance before being loaned out to Parma during the January transfer window.[19]
On 27 July 2013, Strasser joined Genoa on a permanent deal for €3.5 million, as part of Kévin Constant's co-ownership resolution in favour of Milan for €6 million.[20] Strasser was loaned out to Serie B team Reggina in August 2013.[21] As of January 2019, Strasser played for the Serie D team Villafranca.
Strasser made his international debut for the Sierra Leone national team on 5 September 2010, in a 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualification game against Egypt.[3][22]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Continental1 | Other2 | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Milan | 2008–09 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 1 | 0 | |
| 2009–10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 1 | 0 | ||
| 2010–11 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | 5 | 1 | ||
| 2011–12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 1 | 0 | ||
| 2012–13 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 1 | 0 | ||
| Total | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 1 | |
| Lecce (loan) | 2011–12 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 13 | 1 | ||
| Parma (loan) | 2012–13 | 2 | 0 | – | – | – | 2 | 0 | |||
| Career total | 20 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 2 | |
1European competitions include the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Cup.
2Other tournaments include none to date.
| Sierra Leone national team | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Apps | Goals |
| 2010 | 2 | 0 |
| 2011 | 4 | 0 |
| 2012 | 0 | 0 |
| 2013 | 2 | 0 |
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