Elhan Kastrati

The man in between the sticks in goal. Elhan Kastrati made a name for himself last season. Signing from Trapani, the Albanian goalkeeper has earned the number one goalkeeping spot within the team.

Elhan was born on February 2, 1997 in Has, in the northern part of Albania. At the age of 12, he joined the youth setup of KF Teuta. Though not making any appearances for the club at the senior level, he played some matches for the Albanian youth national team. He made his debut on October 18, 2013 in a loss against Romania. He then played four matches after with the national team, starting and playing every minute.

Elhan moved across the sea to play for Pescara when he was 17 years old. At Pescara’s Primavera, he did not get the desired playing time he wanted. He only started eight matches and did not get called up the the youth national team in that period.

The 15/16 season was a different story. Kastrati was a starter for the U19’s, starting 24 matches and keeping 11 clean sheets. He was back with the national team, this time for the U19 Euro Qualifying cycle. Two opening losses against Austria and Georgia saw Albania not qualify for the U19 Euros, though it did see Elhan play in two of those matches and winning one against Wales.

Pescara loaned Kastrati out to Piacenza for half of the 16/17 season. That season saw him play in his first professional match. On December 18, 2016, Piacenza played an away match at Prato. Kastrati came on in the 51st minute after Mirco Miori was sent off. That was the only game for Kastrati in a Piacenza shirt, and was loaned during the winter back to Albania.

Elhan was loaned back to Teuta, his first club he started with. He played 14 matches for half the season until his loan expired, but Teuta and Pescara agreed to make the loan permanent, and Kastrati stayed for the next season.

Elhan went back to Pescara after the year in Albania, though he only made four appearances. He did get his first senior national team call up, when he was called up for Albania’s two UEFA Nations League matches against Israel and Scotland. The next season Elhan started 11 matches for Pescara, before moving to Trapani in the winter of 2020. With Trapani, he only started two matches, and was on the bench as the Sicilian club was relegated, and eventually disappeared from Italian football.

Elhan was signed the following season by Cittadella. Though originally coming in as the backup keeper after Alberto Paleari was sold to Genoa, Kastrati has made a good case to be the number 1. Starting 25 matches this season, Elhan proved himself throughout the season. He has been solid whenever he got his chance, and made big saves during games. He played every minute of the promotion playoffs, and is now focusing on doing well this next season.