Mirko Antonucci

A talented Roman winger, Mirko Antonucci is one of the big signings made by Cittadella this offseason. He has had quite a career so far while only being 22 years old.

Antonucci was born on March 11, 1999 in Rome. He was part of Roma for his entire youth, spending seven years at the academy. He was also representing Italy at the youth level, playing for the Azzuri youth since 2014. He scored his first youth international goal in a friendly against Romania U15

In 2015, Mirko won two trophies with the U17 squad, winning the Supercoppa U17 and the Camionato U17 Finals. He got plenty of game time with the Primavera next year. In 2018, Mirko traveled with the first team to Genoa to face Sampdoria. Euesbio Di Francesco put Antonucci into the match at the 73rd minute mark. It was Antonucci’s pro debut, and in the last minutes of the match, he assisted Edin Dzeko to pull level at 1-1. Four days later, Antonucci would come on again as Roma played Sampdoria once more at home.

That season, Roma made an incredible run to the Champions League semi finals. In the second leg against Liverpool in front of 60,000 at the Olimpico, Antonucci came on with 15 minutes left, with Roma needing three more goals. They fell short by one, however it was huge moment and a big accomplishment for the 19 year old.

Roma loaned Antonucci to Pescara in Serie B. It was Mirko’s first real season as a professional. He made 18 appearances in Serie B, handing one assist in the process.

He came back to Roma for half of the 19/20 season. In October, he made two Serie A appearances against Cagliari and AC Milan, but mostly sitting on the bench for the remaining games. Antonucci also came on in two Europa League group stage matches against Borussia Monchengladbach and Wolfsberger. Just before Serie A was stopped due to Covid, Antonucci was sent on loan to Portugal to play for Vitoria Setubal.

He only managed to play in six games during his time in Portugal. It was there that Mirko made some bad decision making. After a 3-1 loss to Boavista, Antonucci posted TikTok videos of him hours after the match. This enraged the Vitoria fans and organization, and shortly after the loss, Antonucci’s loan was terminated.

Antonucci apologized publicly on Instagram saying, “This message is to say that I’m fully aware of the mistakes I made. I would like to apologise to those that felt offended: fans, club, coach and teammates. I’m going to quit social media and from now on, you are only going to see me sweat with the Vitoria Setubal jersey until the last drop. Go Vitoria!”

After three matches on the sidelines for Roma, the club sent Mirko out again on loan, this time to Salernitana. Once again, it didn’t turn out nicely for the winger, as he only made four appearances all season. Salernitana would eventually be promoted, but Mirko had not played since December.

Needing to restart his career, Cittadella signed Mirko on a permanent deal from Roma. He got his first start last Saturday in the Coppa Italia matchup against Monza. His first game also saw his first assist on a brilliant play to get the cross off, falling right to Mamadou Tounkara for the tap in. Mirko is a talent that just needs some game time to really show off what he can do. We are excited for Mirko this season!