The Five Italian Stars Who Have The Most Appearances In The Premier League

David Tully

3 years ago

Categories: Galleries, Manchester City News

Tags: Arsenal, aston villa, Chelsea, Everton, Leeds United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Sheffield United, Southampton, spurs, West Ham, wolves

In our fifth post profiling the highest appearance makers in the Premier League from their respective countries, we take a look at Italian players.

Over the years, footballers from Italy have regularly attracted interest from English teams. Chelsea, in particular, raided the country for talent in the mid to late 90s.

Since then, fewer household names have moved to the Premier League, although there have been some notable exceptions, which you will find on this list.

Press the next page as we countdown the top five Italian players who have made the most appearances of the Premier League era.

5) Angelo Ogbonna (West Ham) – 158 appearances

The Italian international has been with the Hammers for the past five and a half years, having signed from Torino in the summer of 2015.

Ogbonna has not always been a regular starter but he has matured into an excellent defender, and he has become a key player over the past two seasons.

4) Carlo Cudicini (Chelsea and Tottenham) – 161 appearances

The Italian was plucked from obscurity by Chelsea in 1999, signing from a small provincial club Castel di Sangro for just £300,000. He went on to become the Blues’ number one for the best part of three seasons.

However, the arrival of Petr Cech in 2004 reduced his game time, and it was only when he left for Spurs in 2009 that he began to play more. Unfortunately, a serious motorcycle accident halted his career, and he was only a reserve keeper when he returned to action in 2010. He eventually moved to MLS side LA Galaxy before retiring in 2014.

3) Benito Carbone (Sheffield Wednesday, Aston Villa and Bradford) – 177 appearances

Sheffield Wednesday paid Inter Milan £3m for the forward in 1996. His third and final season with the Owls was the most successful, with him finishing as the club’s top goalscorer and winning the club’s player of the year award.

A contract dispute, however, saw him move to Aston Villa in 1999. He helped the Villans reach the FA Cup final before leaving to join Bradford on a lucrative £40,000 a week contract. He scored some memorable goals for the Bantams but he couldn’t prevent them from being relegated to the Championship. After loan spells at Derby and Middlesbrough, he left Valley Parade to return to Italy.

2) Paulo Di Canio (Sheffield Wednesday, West Ham and Charlton) – 190 appearances

Di Canio came to the wider public’s attention after shoving referee Paul Alcock to the ground when he was playing for Sheffield Wednesday. He was banned for 11 games and fined £10,000 for the incident.

Not long after the controversy, he left Hillsborough for West Ham, where he became a cult figure. He only hit double figures once in his five years at Upton Park but he had a reputation for scoring spectacular goals, including a remarkable volley versus Wimbledon in 2000 which was named Goal of the Season. The Italian spent one more campaign at Charlton before leaving England for Lazio in 2004.

1) Gianfranco Zola (Chelsea) – 229 appearances

The Chelsea legend is, unsurprisingly at the top of this list. After joining from Parma in 1996, Zola scored 58 goals in 229 league appearances.

Although he didn’t win the Premier League during his seven-year spell in England, he did lift the FA Cup on two occasions, the League Cup, the European Cup Winners Cup and the UEFA Super Cup. He moved back to Italy before he retired in 2005.