Berardi, Gaetano
2014-Current
(Leeds Player Details)(Player Details)
Right Back
Born: Sorengo, Lugano, Switzerland: 21-08-1988
Debut: v Accrington Stanley (h): 12-08-2014
Height & Weight: 5ft 8ins 11st
The Swiss right-back started his career with local youth team Basso Malcaltone in Lugano and
was signed by Italian Serie B team Brescia Calcio at the start of the 2005-06 season. He was soon
recognised at international level making his debut for the Swiss Under-Eighteen side on 14th
September 2005 and went on to be included three times at that level. He progressed into the Under-
Nineteen squad the following season, making his debut on 16th August 2006 and being called up
four times. In the 2006-07 season he was brought into the Brescia Serie A team, firstly on 5th May
2007 when he was an unused substitute in a 3-1 win at Spezia Calcio, before making his starting
debut on 3rd June 2007 in a 3-1 win at Delfino Pescara, where he played the full ninety minutes. At
the start of the 2007-08 season he came on as am eighty-ninth minute substitute for Fabiano
Santacroce in the Coppa Italia 1-2 defeat at AC Pisa on 15th August 2007 and one month later he
came on ten minutes earlier for the same player in the 3-0 Serie B win against the same opposition.
Later in the season he was a seventy-eighth minute substitute for Roberto de Zerbi in a 2-0 home
win over Bologna FC on 23rd February 2008 and after starting and playing the full game in a 0-1
defeat at US Triestina on 21st March 2008 he had a spell of appearances to finish the season
having been included in the squad fifteen times, for six starts 3 games from the bench and being
unused on six occasions. He also was unused on the bench in one Serie B Play-off game. At
International level he had progressed to Under-Twenty team and called up five times, playing a full
game on 14th November 2007 in a 0-3 in Italy, twice being a half-time substitute, coming on for
Stefan Glarner in a 0-0 home draw with Italy on 5th September 2007 and starting the 2-0 away win
in Austria on 16th October 2007, when he was replaced by Raphael Mollet. He was an unused
substitute on 12th October 2007 in a 0-0 home draw with Austria and the 1-2 home defeat by
Germany on 21st November 2007. He became an established squad member in the 2008-09
season being involved in thirty-eight Serie B fixtures with eighteen starts, eight games from the
bench and remaining on the bench in twelve others. He also was twice unused in the Serie B
Play-offs and Started one and came on as a substitute in one Coppa Italia ties. He also started
two and came on as a substitute in games at Under-Twenty level for Switzerland. He had a full
game in on 19th October 2008 in the 1-1 draw in Austria, started the game on 10th September in
a home 5-2 win over Italy, but had to come off injured after twenty-eight minutes and be replaced
by Nick von Niederhausen and was a half-time substitute for Dominik Ritter in a 2-3 loss in
Germany on 8th October 2008, which saw him take his Under-Twenty caps to six, with four starts
and two games from the bench, and two games where he was unused. He now moved on to the
Swiss Under-Twenty-One squad, making his debut as a half-time substitute for Michael Kovacevic
in a 1-1 draw in Greece on 19th November 2008. On 10th February 2009 he was again a half-time
substitute for the same player in a 3-1 defeat in Portugal. He was an unused substitute on 28th
March 2009 in a home 2-0 win over the German Under-Twenty team, but three days later he had
his first full game in a 2-1 win in Austria. 2009-10 saw him again a regular in the Brescia Serie B
squad, being in the squad in thirty-seven games with twenty-four starts, five more from the bench
and being unused eight times. In the Serie B Play-offs in which Brescia gained promotion after
beating Torino 2-1 on aggregate in the Serie B playoff final on 12th June 2010, when Berardi
came on as a seventy-second minute substitute for Marco Zambelli in his only participation in the
play-offs. He added a further nine caps to his Under-twenty-One collection with full game
appearances on 5th June 2009 in a 2-1 home win over Armenia, on 4th September in a 3-1 win
against the same opponents, 13-10-2009 Ireland 1-1 Switzerland, then on 14th November in a
3-1 win in Turkey, on 26th May 2010 in a 0-2 home loss against the same foe and then on 3rd
September 2010 in a 1-0 home win over Ireland. He also started three games but was
substituted, on 9th October 2009 in a 4-1 win in Estonia, when Rolf Feltscher replaced him after
eighty-three minutes, on 18th November in a 1-0 home win over Georgia, when Fabian Frei was
a seventy-seventh minute substituted, and on 3rd March 2010 in a 2-1 win in Norway when Rolf
Feltscher was his replacement in the fifty-sixth minute. He was an unused substitute on 12th
August 2009 in a 0-1 home defeat by Estonia. Brescia's Serie A season started with Berardi on
the bench as an unused substitute as they were defeated 0-2 by Parma FC on 29th August 2010,
but he made his Serie A start with a full game on 12th September 2010 as Brescia gained their
first points with a 3-2 home win over US Palermo. Once more he was a strong member of the
squad featuring in thirty-two games which comprised twenty-four starts, three from the bench and
five games in which he remained on the bench. He also started both games in the Coppa Italia.
Brescia did not fare well in Serie A and were relegated after finishing nineteenth of twenty. At
International level he completed his time with the Swiss Under-Twenty-one team with seven starts
and one more from the bench. He had six full games, on 11th August in a 0-1 home loss to Greece,
on 11th October 2010 on a 1-1 draw in Sweden, 11th June 2011 in a 1-0 win in Denmark, in a 2-0
home win over Iceland, three days later, a 1-0 home win, after extra-time, over the Czech Republic
on 22nd June and three days later when they were defeated 0-2 by Spain in the final of the
European competition at NRGI Park, home of Aarhus in Denmark. He started in the 3-0 win over
Belaruss, also at NRGI Park, but gave way to Fabio Daprela after seventy-five minutes and on
9th February 2011 he came off the bench to replace Jonathan Rossini in the seventy-first minute
in a 1-1 draw in Ukraine. He won twenty caps for seventeen starts and three games from the
bench and was an unused substitute twice at Under-Twenty-One level. After making twelve starts
and coming on as a substitute once in Serie B and making one start in the Coppa Italia during
the opening months of the 2011-12 season Berardi was transferred to Sampdoria on 3rd
January 2012, where he rejoined his former coach Giuseppe Iachini. While at Brescia he had
started eighty-five, come off the bench twenty times and been unused substitute thirty-two times
in the Serie A or B side. He also had one substitute appearance and sat unused on the bench
five times in Serie B play-offs as well as making four starts and having two games from the bench
in the Coppa Italia, all without scoring. With UC Sampdoria he was unused on the bench in his
initial game on 6th January 2012 in which his new club were beaten at home 0-1 by AS Varese.
He made his starting debut in a 2-1 win at Padova on 14th January 2012 and went on to make
nine starts, of which he had to be substituted by Andrea Rispoli in the twenty-ninth minute after
being injured on 6th March 2012 in a 1-0 home win over FC Empoli and he was sent off in the
sixty-third minute of the 0-1 defeat at FC Crotone on 6th April 2012 after being twice yellow
carded. However, he did help his new club to promotion after they beat AS Varese 4-2 on
aggregate in the play-off finals, even though by then he was not in the squad. He had received
his first cap for Switzerland on 10th August 2011 when he came on as a substutute for Stephan
Lichtsteiner with seven minutes left to play in the 2-1 away win in Liechtenstein, but that is his
only full cap to date. He made his Serie A debut for Sampdoria on 26th August 2012 in a 1-0
win at AC Milan and completed the full game. He went on to be included thirty-one times in the
squad for the season, comprising eighteen starts, three games from the bench and sat unused
for ten games. He was also an unused substitute in Sampdoria's 5-4 defeat by SS Juve Stabia
in the Coppa Italia. Despite Giuseppe Iachini having been replaced by Sinisa Mihajlovic in
November 2013 he still managed to feature in twenty-two games in Serioe A in 2013-14 season.
However, in seventeen of those games he was an unused substitute, srating only four games
and making one more appearance from the bench. He also had one game as an unused
substitute in the Coppa Italia. It proved to be his final season at Sampdoria, as, on 19th July
2014 he joined Leeds United after starting thirty-one and coming from the bench four times
and sitting unused in a further twenty-eight matches in Serie A/B, as well as sitting out two
Coppa Italia ties on the bench, while at Sampdoria. He signed a two year contract with a
further option for one year with the Yorkshire club. His start with his new club could hardly have
got off on a worse footing as after sitting out United's first League game of the season as an
unused substitute in a 0-2 defeat at Millwall on 9th August 2014, he made his Leeds debut in
the starting eleven three days later in a 2-1 home win over Accrington Stanley in the League
Cup and he was given a straight red card for an horrendous flying tackle in the final minutes
of the game. This saw him serve a three game ban and was not included in the squad for a
League Cup tie and a further League match. He made a comeback as he played a full game
in a 1-1 draw at Birmingham City on 13th September 2014. This was followed three days later
by another full game in a 3-1 win at Bournemouth. Just when he thought things were looking up
he was booked in the twenty-fourth minute of the 3-0 home win over Huddersfield Town on 20th
September 2014 and then disaster struck once more as he received a second yellow in the
seventy-third minute and he was dismissed, with another two match ban being received.
Despite the unsteady start he had made to his Leeds career he settled down and fought his
way into the first team, starting nineteen League games and coming off the bench on three
occasions. He also made one start in each of the F.A. Cup and the League Cup. On 21st
September 2015 he signed a two year contract extension kept him at the club until the summer
of 2018. Berardi's disciplinary problems continued as he received a red card on 21st November
2015 in the 0-1 home defeat by Rotherham United. His bad luck continued on his resumption
after his suspension when he suffered a torn ankle ligament in the 0-0 draw at Charlton Athletic
on 14th December 2015, which saw him sidelined for two months. He regained his first team
place upon recovery and went on to become the runner up to Charlie Taylor in the Yorkshire
Post Player of the season award. The 2016-17 season did not start well for him as injury kept
him out of thr pre-season practice games, but he made the bench for the final friendly game
against Atlanta. He was in the right-back position on 7th August 2016 for the opening day 0-3
defeat at Queens Park Rangers, but was replaced by Lewie Coyle after twenty-two minutes
when he had to leave the field with a groin injury. The injury kept him out of consideration for six
weeks. In that time Luke Ayling had been signed and had cemented himself into the right back
position. He returned to the team at left-back for the penalty shootout win at Norwich City on
25th October 2016 with Lewie Coyle his right back partner. However, United retained Luke
Ayling and Charlie Taylor as their full-back combination in League games. He had to wait for
another's misfortune for his return to regular first team football. Left back Charlie Taylor pulled
up with an Achilles injury in the 1-0 home win over Brentford on 17th December 2016 and
Berardi replaced him in the fifty-eighth minute and this saw Berardi start a run of appearances
at left back, which was only broken by the return of Charlie Taylor, initially in the 3-1 away win
at Birmingham City, on 3rd March 2017,and on two other subsequent occasions, when Ayling
was unavailable, and Berardi came into the side at right back. Berardi's form at left back was
such that even Charlie Taylor could not oust him. After a good pre-season, in which he seemed
to have made the left back position his own, he suffered a dislocated shoulder, after thirty-eight
minutes in the 3-2 victory at Bolton Wanderers on 6th August 2017, in the first League game of
the season, and had to be replaced by new signing Vurnon Anita. It was not all bad news, as on
8th August 2017, Berardi signed a new three year contract with the club, binding him to it until
the end of the 2019-20 season. Even though he started behind Charlie Taylor for the left back
spot in the close season, it was always certain that Taylor would leave the club, it was just a
matter of his next destination. So even when Vurnon Anita arrived from Newcastle United as a
replacement once Taylor has left and just for good measure Cameron Borthwick-Jackson had
arrived on loan from Manchester United until the start of the New Year, the Swiss warrior would
not give up his spot without a fight. So, along with Luke Ayling he was always United's first
choice for the full-back positions but in the 2017-18 season it was ruined by a couple of injuries,
which saw him miss five League games and two League Cup ties after being carried off in the
first game of the season at Bolton Wanderers. His robust style and fiery temperament saw him
get three red cards in the season, which caused him to miss a further nine League and one
League Cup games, but nonetheless he always bounced back to keep Anita, Borthwick-Jackson
and later Belgian import Laurens De Beck out of the team when he was available. He marked
his one hundredth game for Leeds on 30th December 2017 at Birmingham City by being captain
for the day, a responsibility he would later repeat when others were not available. The injury jinx hit
again in the early days of the 2018-19 season near the close of the home draw with Middlesbrough
and it brought to an end a series of fine performances in the centre of defence as Leeds started
with a string of fine performances to lead the Championship.