Samuele Dalla Bona - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 
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Sam Dalla Bona Personal information
Full name Samuele Dalla Bona
Date of birth February 6, 1981 (1981-02-06) (age 27)
Place of birth San Donà di Piave,
Italy Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position Midfielder Club information
Current club S.S.C. Napoli Number 24 Youth clubs 1996-98
1998-99
Atalanta Chelsea Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)* 1999-02
2002-06
2003-04
2004-05
2005-06
2006-
Chelsea A.C. Milan
→
Bologna (on loan)
→
Lecce (on loan)
→
Sampdoria (on loan)
Napoli
55 (6)
4 (0)
19 (3)
36 (6)
29 (0)
34 (3)
[1] National team2 2002-03
1999-00
1996-98
1996
Italy U21
Italy U18
Italy U16
Italy U15 9 (0)
10 (2)
21 (?)
7 (0) 1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of July, 2005.
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 08:38, 25 February 2006 (UTC).
* Appearances (Goals)
Samuele Dalla Bona (born
February 6,
1981 in
San Donà di Piave,
Venice) commonly referred to as
Sam Dalla Bona is an
Italian footballer who currently plays for
S.S.C. Napoli.
Contents
[
hide]
[edit] Chelsea
By the time he was 17 years-old, he was captain of the under 18 national side, and was signed by
English football club
Chelsea in October 1998. Dalla Bona's move to
London saw the
FIGC amend the legislation regarding the sale of their young players.
[2]
The young midfielder was brought into the youth and reserve team squads at Chelsea first, gaining a reputation for prolific goalscoring with 16 reserve team goals, winning the club golden boot in 1998-99.
[3] In the same season, he was voted Chelsea's young player of the year.
He made his senior team debut for the club against
Feyenoord in the
Champions League a year later. With the departure of older midfielders
Dennis Wise and
Gustavo Poyet in 2001 and some impressive performances, Dalla Bona got an extended run in the side, making 32 appearances in that season and scoring 2 goals. He also played during some of the matches in Chelsea's 2001-02
FA Cup run; the team were eventual runners-up to
Arsenal, though Dalla Bona didn't play in the final.
The following season, Dalla Bona turned down a contract extension, citing his desire to return to Italy, and was placed on the transfer list.
[4] Consequently, Dalla Bona fell out of favour and was forced to train with the reserves by Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri.
[5] [edit] A.C. Milan
Dalla Bona had decided to move back to his home nation of Italy. Numerous clubs were interested in the player, including his home town club
Venezia who had a
£5 million offer accepted
[6] but Dalla Bona decided his future lay elsewhere and turned down the opportunity.
He moved to
A.C. Milan for around
£1million in July 2002,
[7] having played 73 games for Chelsea in all competitions and scored 6 goals. Dalla Bona made his
Serie A debut on
6 October 2002 as Milan defeated
Torino 6-0. During his first season at Milan, he received Champions League and
Coppa Italia winners medals along with the rest of the squad.
Facing competition from a star-studded AC Milan midfield containing the likes of
Gennaro Gattuso,
Clarence Seedorf and
Andrea Pirlo, Dalla Bona's opportunities at the club were limited and he spent various seasons on loan at different clubs in Italy, the first of which was a year long loan at
Bologna.
[8] The following season he was loaned to
Lecce[9] having made just a handful of appearances for Milan and in 2005 he was loaned to
Sampdoria for a season.
[10] [edit] Napoli
At the end of the championship he returned to A.C. Milan but after a few weeks he was bought by
S.S.C. Napoli, in the
Italian Serie B league. Dalla Bona has had a positive start at Napoli, with the club performing well in Serie B. His contributions to the team included a particularly stunning goal, a left footed volley from outside the box against
Treviso. However, as Napoli made their return to Serie A, Dalla Bona is again regularly left out of the starting line, with Napoli signing new players.
[edit] Honours