Federico Macheda

A young striker with great potential, currently playing for Manchester United.

Signed from Lazio in September 2007, he has enjoyed a rapid rise to prominence in Manchester, going from playing Academy football at the tail end of 2008 to playing a pivotal role in the first team retaining their Premiership title just four months later, his injury-time winner on debut against Aston Villa at the age of just 17 arguably proving to be the most decisive and memorable moment of a fabulously successful campaign.

A natural finisher with excellent technical ability and deceptive pace, Federico continued to see first-team action over the following couple of seasons, chipping in with the occasional key Premier League goal and featuring in both the Champions League and the Carling Cup, but the Rome-born forward was unfortunate to see a promising start to his loan spell with Sampdoria back in his homeland turn sour as the Genoa club were plunged into crisis on and off the field. Similar bad luck saw a loan move to QPR ended prematurely by injury last term, but Sir Alex Ferguson remains a firm fan of the young forward.

Federico has made an impression at international level with Italy’s U21s, featuring 10 times for the Azzurini to date, most recently against Sweden in March 2011.