Fabrizio Ravanelli had two separate spells in English football with Middlesbrough and then Derby County, proving himself a popular and prolific figure with both.
The Perugia-born Ravanelli made his debut for his hometown club way back in 1986, aged just 18. In his early days, he was brash, almost too quick for his own good and often hot-headed. But he was prolific – he scored 41 goals in 90 Perugia appearances before signing for Avellino in 1989. He spent half-a-season there without scoring before finding himself on the move once again, this time signing for Casertana.
Now starting to establish himself as a promising young Italian, he racked up a few more goals in his sole season at the club, before signing for Serie B side Reggiana in 1990. With Reggiana he would truly immerse himself into the fore of Italian football, scoring 24 goals in his 2 seasons there and securing himself a dream move to Serie A giants Juventus.
Juve at the time were on the brink of dominating the nation’s footballing scene, with the likes of Alessandro Del Piero, Gianluca Vialli, Paolo Di Canio, and Roberto Baggio to name a few. Yet, despite these fine talents, Ravanelli would more than hold his own in the side – in 4 seasons at the club, he played 159 times in all competitions, scoring 69 goals.
His time at the Old Lady remains his most prestigious. Ravanelli won the Serie A – Coppa Italia double in the 1994-95 campaign and the Champions League in the following season in which Ravanelli scored the opening goal of the Final. The 1995-96 season would prove to be his last at Juve though before he moved on to Middlesbrough – a move which shocked many in English football.
Ravanelli was still a very important member of the Juve squad having scored 12 in 26 Serie A games in his final season. Middlesbrough however had just finished 12th in the Premier League after spending 2 seasons in the First Division. Signing for £7 million, Ravanelli became the highest-paid player in the Premier League at the time, scoring a hat-trick on his league debut against Liverpool.
His maiden season in England asserted Ravanelli as one of Europe’s top strikers. He scored 31 goals in all competitions and helped Boro to the Final of both the FA Cup and League Cup. In the Premier League though, his side would end the season in 19th-place, and suffer relegation back to the First Division. Ravanelli stayed a while longer and played a couple of games in the English second-tier, but left for Marseille at his earliest convenience.
For all his goals at Middlesbrough, Ravanelli actually became quite a disliked figure by many. Perhaps the title of the “league’s highest-paid player” got to him, but throughout the season he berated the club’s training facilities, the coaching staff, and even spoke of his disliking for the town itself.
In two-and-a-half seasons with the French outfit, Ravanelli would score 31 goals. He continued to show his abilities but couldn’t emulate the form of his maiden season at Middlesbrough, subsequently dropping out of contention with the national team, and being shipped back to Italy soon at the turn of the millennium.
He landed at Lazio in 2000 but after four years away from his home nation, Ravanelli’s influence in Serie A seemed to have dwindled. He managed just four goals in one-and-a-half seasons with the club but even more unexpected than his initial Middlesbrough move, Derby County prevailed to offer Ravanelli a second bite at the Premier League.
The Derby fans quickly warmed to Ravanelli but again he would play in a relegated side, this time scoring 9 Premier League goals in his first season with the club, with 11 in all competitions. After the Rams were relegated, Ravanelli won over some fans by opting to stay for half-a-season in the Championship, but by now the 34-year-old was starting to decline.
His contract ran out at Pride Park and with Derby facing serious financial hurdles, they decided not to renew Ravanelli’s stay at the club. He quickly found refuge with Dundee in Scotland though that move sprung up no surprises, and lasted only the half-season that he played before finishing his career back where it all started with Perugia.
Hanging up his boots in 2005 at age 36, Ravanelli can look back on a career that saw him score 247 goals in 626 matches. He won some of the most prestigious trophies in Europe and reached at least the Final of many more, winning over countless fans in his time for his sheer ability in-front of goal, and his all-roundedness as a striker which made him as prolific as he was.
Ravanelli then took a six-year hiatus from the game before landing a youth role with Juventus. He spent two years with the club and looked set to break into management, before securing his first manager’s role with Ligue 1 side Ajaccio. He signed a two-year contract with the club ahead of the 2013-14 season and many tipped him to succeed in the dugout, but just five months into his tenure he was sacked, with just the one win to his name.
That seemed to be it for Ravanelli. He took a further five years out of the game before emerging as the unlikely manager of Ukrainian outfit Arsenal Kyiv. This time around he lasted just 3 months in charge, overseeing 9 games and winning one to leave him with an overall managerial record of 2 wins in 22. He resigned in November 2018 and the footballing world hasn’t heard from the 51-year-old since.
His management hurrah may well tarnish Ravanelli’s name in football but it can’t be forgotten how good a player he really was. With Juventus, he was a Champions League winner and in England, he became a cult hero of both Boro and Derby fans’, and the fact that he scored 31 goals in all competitions in his first season for a relegated team in the Premier League shows just how underrated Ravanelli may have been.
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Feature Photo: Paolo Minoli/Action Images
Click below to read more stories of Italian players who tried their hand at the Premier League:
Gianfranco Zola’s Inspiring Love Affair with Chelsea
Roberto Di Matteo’s Managerial Greatness
Benito Carbone’s British Tribulations
The Turbulent Times of Paolo Di Canio
Alberto Aquilani’s Missed Chance at Liverpool
Everton Full-Back Alessandro Pistone and His Injury Hell
The Hard-Hitting Times of Gianluca Festa at Middlesbrough
Attilio Lombardo’s Short Stint at Crystal Palace
Carlo Cudicini Could Have Been a Top Star
The Rise and Fall of Middlesbrough’s Massimo Maccarone
The Desperate Demise of Samuele Dalla Bona