Giuseppe Rossi was born on the 1st of February 1987 to Italian immigrant parents in Teaneck, New Jersey. His father, Fernando Rossi from Fraine, Abruzzo, coached soccer and taught Italian and Spanish at Clifton High School where Giuseppe played prep soccer. When he was offered a spot on the youth team of Parma, Giuseppe, then 12, and his father moved to Italy before Manchester United bought his contract when he was 17. Having been poached by Sir Alex Fergusson from Parma as a teenager, touted as one of the most promising young players of his generation in Italy, he was pegged as a rising star when he was part of Manchester United's talented youth academy, and the Italian was swiftly introduced to the first team. He made his debut in the fifth round of the League Cup with a cameo showing against Crystal Palace as his development showed no sign of slowing down. Giuseppe was presented with the honours of 'Jimmy Murphy Player of the Year' and the 'Denzil Haroun Reserve Team Player of the Year' awards during his first two seasons at the club. His first goal came in an away win at Sunderland as a second-half substitute, replacing Ruud van Nistelrooy, for his Premier League debut with just 12 minutes to play, though that would prove to be his only successful effort in the top-flight. Not selected in United's squad for the 2006 4-0 League Cup triumph over Wigan Athletic, such were his performances in the earlier rounds that Nemanja Vidic presented Rossi with his medal in recognition of the Italian's contribution to their success.
However, fighting for a starting berth alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Van Nistelrooy was a struggle and he was sent out on loan to Newcastle at the start of the 2006/07 campaign, little did he know he had already played his last game for Man Utd. Having netted just once for the Magpies, his spell was cut short in the January and he was shipped out to ex-club Parma for the remainder of the season. Here he had an impressive run of nine goals in 19 appearances, finishing second in The Crusaders' goalscoring charts for the season, so he expected to kick on at Old Trafford the following campaign but Sir Alex instead opted to sell him to Villarreal and bring in another hot Italian youngster in Davide Petrucci. Having signed for Villareal, this is where he started to make a name for himself as a prolific goalscorer. A number of top clubs would have undoubtedly been looking at signing him at that stage when he was reaching his peak. With things going well for him in Spain, earning him comparisons with World Cup winner Paolo Rossi, he enjoyed four productive seasons, which peaked in 2010/11 where he scored 32 goals in 56 games. Spending six seasons in total on the east coast of Spain as a fan favourite, he consistently managed double figures in his first three years before a remarkable 2010/11 campaign saw him rack up 32 goals as Yellow Submarine finished fourth in La Liga. Sadly a series of devastating knee injuries blighted his career after that season. The first of those came in October 2011 when he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee causing him to miss the remainder of the season. He suffered a relapse in April 2012 and joined Fiorentina but did not play again until the final day of the 2012/13 season. After fighting his way back to fitness he bagged his first goal in 23 months on the opening day of the new campaign and led the scoring charts by the turn of the year with 14 goals in 18 matches which included a hat-trick against Juventus. Then he sprained ligaments in his right knee in January 2014 and missed another four months of action before a fourth injury to his right knee in August the same year saw him on the sidelines for another 12 months. During a loan spell at Celta Vigo in April 2017, he ruptured his ACL in his left knee and, having missed 18 months of football, he was used infrequently by Fiorentina and was granted spells out on loan at Levante and Celta Vigo to try and find consistent first-team football but again ruptured his ACL in his left knee whilst at Celta Vigo and was released at the end of his contract.
This speedy and mobile forward was heralded for his creative play and was considered the full package of a striker. Intelligent with his movement off the ball as well as his instinct inside the penalty area and possessing an intense work-rate, he had been compared to Italy countryman Alessandro Del Piero due to his speed, passing ability and skilled dribbling and was also a talented playmaker, doing well to link-up midfield play. Versatile with his attacking positions, being able to be deployed on either wing, as a second striker or a lone forward, or in an attacking midfielder role, able to drop deep between the lines and involve in steady build-up of play, he was an asset to both the midfield and forward line of the team – while also being strong at spot-kicks. Despite this talent, work-rate, skill and prolific goalscoring ability, injuries and fitness problems sadly constantly plagued his entire career.
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