Antenucci, Mirco

2014-2016 (Leeds Player Details)(Player Details)

Centre Forward

Born: Termoli, Italy: 08-09-1984

Debut: v Watford (a): 23-08-2014

Height & Weight: 5ft 10ins 10st 10lb

Born in Termoli on the mid-adriatic coast of Italy. He joined Giulianova Calcio, who were a member of the Serie C1 in July 2002 and made his debut in the 2002-03 season in which he scored once in twenty-one appearances most of which were from the bench. He was selected for the Italian C1 Under-Twenty side. In his second season he had fourteen games without scoring. He had played just eleven minutes in his one appearance for the 2004-05 season without scoring and spent that season on loan to US Ancona, who played in Serie C2, and after a full season there he had scored twice in twenty-six games. He had represented the Italian Under -Twenty-One C1 during the two seasons to the end of the 2004-05 season. He returned to Giulianova at the start of the 2005-06 season and once more struggled to find the net scoring only once in twenty-five games, but once more he tended to have little game-time and often provided assists for others. However in 2006-07 he became even more establshed in the first team and the goals came, with eleven in thirty-two games as he was almost an ever-present. His performances had come to the notice of Serie A Calcio Catania and they signed him in July 2007. They immediately loaned him to the Serie C1 side SSC Venezia and in the season he spent there he scored six times in twenty-seven games. He returned to Catania at the start of the 2008-09 season and went straight into the Serie A team, making his starting debut in the 2-1 (aet) win over Parma FC in the Coppa Italia at home on 23rd August 2008, in which he played sixty -three minutes before being replaced by Nicolae Dica. He came on as a subsitute for Jorge Martinez with five minutes left on the clock in the Serie A 1-0 home win over Genoa CFC on 31st August in the opening match of the season. In the second game in a 1-2 loss at Inter Milan on he came on as a seventy-fourth minute substitute for Giacomo Tedesco on 13th September. Four days later he played a full game in the Coppa Italia in a 4-0 win over Padova, but that was his last involvement with the first team squad until he was again unused on the bench in the 1-1 Serie A draw at AC Siena on 25th October, but was again a substitute for Todesco with thirteen minutes to go in the 0-2 home loss to Udinese four days later. On 23rd November he had his final game for the season with the Serie A squad when he came on as a substitute for Michele Paolucci with nine minutes to go on 23rd November in a 0-3 loss at UC Sampdoria. He was loaned to AC Pisa for the rest of the season on 5th January 2009. He made his debut on 12th January 2009 in a 1-3 home defeat by AC Rimini when he replaced Edgar Alvarez in the fifty-fourth minute. He went on to start six, come on as a sustitute in fourteen and was unused in two other games. He made his starting debut in a 0-0 draw at Vicenza on 17th February 2009. His only goal came in the eighty-fourth minute when he scored the second goal with a left foot shot in a 2-0 win at home to AlbinoLeffe on 7th March 2009. In August 2009 Antenucci again went out on loan for the season, this time with Serie B club Ascoli Calcio. He made is debut on 9th August 2009 in a 3-1 home win over FC Crotone in the Coppa Italia and was then on the bench as an unused substitute in Ascoli's first game of the League season in a 1-1 draw with ASD Gallipoli on 21st August 2009, before on the 29th August he replaced Vincenzo Sommese with seven minutes left in a 2-1 away win at Modena FC. The following game on 6th September in a 2-1 home win over Mantova he was called on to replace Marcello Gazzola in the eighty second minute with Ascoli trailing 0-1. He had a gand in both the Ascoli goals as they rescued the game with two goals with goals in the eighty-ninth and in the fifth minute of added time. This saw him included in the starting side on 12th September and he scored his side's first equaliser in the twenty-seventh minute to register his first goal with the club as the went on to a 2-2 away draw with Vincenza Calcio.The next fixture in a 2-0 home win over Brescia on 18th September saw him score both goals, in the second and fourteenth minute to cement his place in the team and he went on to score twenty-four goals in thirty-eight starts and two games from the bench and one game he was an unused substitute He finished the season as the joint second top scorer in Serie B, two goals behind Eder of Empoli as Ascoli finished ninth with fifty-seven points. He returned once more to Catania, but there was plenty of competition for the striker's role with Maxi Lopez, Giuseppe Mascara and Takayuki Morimoto there at the start of the season but he and Giuseppe Mascara moved on as Francesco Lodi from Frosinone, and Gonzalo Bergessio from Saint- Etienne were drafted in as their replacements. It was understandable that he rarely made the starting eleven and of his thirteen Serie A appearances only two were in the starting eleven and in addition he was unused on the bench six times. He made his debut as a sixty-second minute replacement for Maxi Lopez in the 1-2 away defeat to Chievo Verona on 29th August 2010, but it was not until the ninth match of the League season that he made his starting debut in a 0-0 home draw with AC Fiorentina on 31st October 2010, with his second start coming two games later in a 1-0 home win over Udinese Calcio on 10th November 2010. His only goal of the season for Catania came in the club's second game on 12th September 2010 when he scored the second goal, three minutes from time with a penalty, after he had been brought down after coming on as a seventy-ninth minute replacement for Maxi Lopez in a 2-1 home win over Parma FC. He also started all three games in the Coppa Italia, scoring in each of the first two games, with a right foot shot to make it 2-0 in the twenty-sixth minute in a 4-3 (aet) in the home win over AS Varese on 27th October, before being replaced by Maxi Lopez in the seventy-fourth minute, and then, on 25th November, in the eighty-third minute with a left foot shot to make the score 4-1 as Catania triuphed 5-1 in a home win over Brescia Calcio. On 22nd January 2011, he joined Serie B giants Torino in a co-ownership deal, which cost the Turin club £1.25. It was no an easy transition as the club as the club traditionally had played 4-2-3-1 with Captain Rolandi Bianchi in the striker's role, but ultimately they did switch to a 4-4-2 system and the two formed a good striking partnership. He made his debut for Torino on 29th January in a 1-1 away draw at FC Crotone. He scored his first goal in his fourth games in a 3-1 home win over Delfino Pescara on 19th February 2011, with a left foot shot four minutes after half-time to put his side 2-1 in the lead. He remained an ever-present right up to the final game when he came on as a half-time replacement for Biagio Pagano in a 0-2 home defeat by Padova on 29th May 2011 and he started eighteen Serie B games and came of the bench once, while scoring six goals as Torino finished eighth with fifty-eight points. His second season at Torino was even more successful, as he remained there for the full season. He was in the squad for every Serie B game of the year starting thirty-one coming off the bench ten times and remaining unused only once. He scored ten goals as Torino finished second on the table with eighty-three points and thereby won promotion to Serie A. He also made one start and came off the bench once in the Coppa Italia. On 23rd June 2012, Calcio Catania paid Torino £875,000 for the player's co-ownership, and so the he returned to Sicily for the start of the 2012–13 Serie A season. While at Torino he had scored sixteen goals in forty-nine starts, eleven from the bench, with one game unused on the bench, while starting one and coming off the bench once in the Coppa Italia, without scoring. He played as a seventy-sixthy minute substitute for Gonzalo Bergessio in the Catania's first game of the season in a 2-2 draw at AS Roma on 26th August 2012 but it was to be his only game for them in that season. He was sent out on loan to Spezia Calcio, the Serie B side, on yet another season-long loan deal at a fee of £346,000, and made his starting debut in the club's third game of the season in a 3-1 home win over Brescia Calcio on 9th September 2012. He scored his first goals in his sixth match for the club, when after coming on as a thirty-third minute substitute for Stefano Okaka he scored his side's fourth and fifth goals with right foot shots in the fifty-fifth and eighty-fifth minute as the ran out 5-1 winners at AS Livorno on 8th October 2012. He went on to finish the season with six goals in twenty-seven starts, and six more from the bench, while being an unused substitute twice Serie B matches as spezia finished thirteenth with fifty-one points. Once more he was loaned out, this time to Serie B side Ternana Calcio for a fee of £346,000. He made his debut for them in the Coppa Italia on 11th August 2013, when they were beaten 2-4 (aet) at home by US Lecce, with his League debut following on 24th August in a 1-0 home win over Carpi FC in which he got the winner from the penalty spot in the thirty-fifth minute. He went on to become captain and score nineteen goals in forty starts in the League as Ternana finished ninth with fifty -three points and he was the joint fifth leading goalscorer in Serie B, behind Matteo Mancosu with twenty-six. After playing his final game for Ternana in a 2-1 home win in the Coppa Italia at home to US Catanzaro on 17th August 2014 he was transferred to Leeds United. He had scored once in two starts and sixteen games om the bench in Serie A as well as being unused on the bench in seven other games, and scored twice in five starts in the Coppa Italia while with Catania he had scored nineteen goals in forty starts in Serie B and starting twice in the Coppa Italia without scoring. On 20th August 2014 he joined Leeds United on a two year contract at a fee of 1.2million. He made his Leeds debut on 23rd August, in a 1-4 defeat at Watford, his home debut followed seven days later in a 1-0 win over Bolton Wanderers. He got his first Leeds goal in a 3-1 away win at Bournemouth on 16th September 2014 when he scored the third goal that clinched the game in the final minute, with a right foot shot in a 3-1 win. Four days later he doubled his tally with a right foot shot to give Leeds a 2-0 lead right on half-time in a 3-0 win in the "West Yorkshire Derby" with Huddersfield Town. He carried on his scoring at regular intervals and became the first choice striker starting twenty-one consecutive games which finished with the F.A. Cup tie on 4th January, which ended in defeat at Sunderland. He only started three games after that, which, as he was by far the club's leading scorer did not make sense. However, with Neil Redfearn preferring a 4-2-3-1 formation with Steve Morison as the target man up front, it was a matter of was that the coach's preferred option or as it later transpired that Antenucci had a clause in his contract of employment which stipulated that if he scored twelve goals in the season it would add one year on to the term of his contact. The fact was confirmed by Antenucci's agent but Leeds were reluctant to make a further commitment and told Redfearn not to limit his use of him in the seven games that remained. After Nicola Salerno had left the club he claimed it was Redfearn's decision. Antenucci was one of six former Italian-based players, that had been signed by Cellino, who all acted in unison and declared themselves unfit prior to the game with Charlton Athletic on 18th April 2015 and were not subsequently called to the squad for the rest of the season. The agent for two of the players, Antenucci and Bellusci, said in the first days of July 2015, that the two players would be remaining with Leeds for the following season and that Cellino had said they would be important players for the club. He was allocated the number seven jersey for the 2015-16 season and, while not picked in the starting eleven, he came from the bench in the opening game with Burnley at Elland Road, to give Leeds a 1-0 lead, which they could not sustain. He was one of only two successful players who scored from the spot in a 2-4 penalty shoot-out loss at Doncaster Rovers in the League Cup. He was on the mark from the spot as United drew 2-2 at Bristol City on 19th August 2015. He followed this by scoring in a 1-1 draw at Brentford on 12th September 2015. He netted from the spot once more in a 1-1 draw at Bolton Wanderers on 24th October 2015 and on 7th November he scored the first goal in a 3-0 win at Huddersfield Town. A change in Manager in mid-October had seen Steve Evans replace Uwe Rosler and he favoured Chris Wood as United's sole striker and consequently Antenucci's inactivity saw his goal contributions dry up, but when the lone striker was injured in late January, this saw him share the duties with Soulemane Doukara. He scored both goals in a 2-1 win over Bolton Wanderers on 5th March 2016, then an injury-time goal to secure a 2-0 win at Cardiff City on 8th March 2016 and four days later he scored the second goal to give United a 2-0 lead at Blackburn Rovers before the home team salvaged a late consolation goal, which gave him four goals in three games. He finished as United's second highest goalscorer for the season with nine goals, four goals behind Chris Wood. On 20th May 2016, Leeds confirmed that his contract had not been extended and he was now a free agent. On 29th June 2016 he signed for newly-promoted Serie B side S.P.A.L. of Ferrara, Italy, on a free transfer on a two year contract.