Bianchi, Tommaso

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

Midfield/Winger

Born: Piombino, Italy: 01-11-1988

Debut: v Accrington Stanley (h): 12-08-2014

Height & Weight: 5ft 11 1/2ins 10st 8lb

Born in the Italian Province of Tuscany he joined local youth club Follonica and after one season there he joined Piacenza Calcio where he turned professional in July 2005. He made his debut as an seventy-third minute substitute for Danielo Degano in a Serie B 1-2 defeat at Ternana Calcio on 18th March 2006. He was then an unused substitute in the 3-1 home win over Brescia Calcio on 9th April 2006. However, in the final three games of the Serie B season he started the home game on 14th May and scored his first goal in the twenty-third minute, before being substituted after sixty-eight minutes in a 3-4 defeat at home by US Triestina, then on 21st May 2006 he came on as a fourth minute substitute for Marco Stella in a 0-1 away defeat at Modena FC 1912, before starting the final game on 28th May 2006 in a 2-3 home defeat by US Arezzo in which he was replaced by Radja Nainggolan in the seventy-fourth minute. The 2006-07 season saw him initially out of the squad and then mostly on the bench, being unused on fifteen occasions, but he did start six games, of which he completed four, and came on as a substitute in four further games in Serie B. In 2007-08 he was in the squad on 30 Serie B games starting eighteen, coming on as a substitute in nine and being unused on three occasions. He scored in added time to get the winner in a 2-1 home win over Ascoli Calcio on 26th January 2008 and also scored in a 2-3 loss to Reggina Calcio in a Third Round Coppa Italia tie on 29th August 2007, one of two such Cup-ties he started that season. He was also picked twice for the Italian Under-Twenty team, starting both games but being substituted in the sixty-eighth minute in a 0-1 home loss to Austria on 25th March 2008 but playing a full game in the 1-0 away win on 30th April 2008. In the 2008-09 season he started the 0-1 home loss in the Italian Cup tie with Padova on 17th August 2008 but was missing from the League squad apart from one unused substitute inclusion on 12th September at home to AS Livorno. However he returned to the squad on 15th November 2008 for the home game with US Sassuolo and after a couple of games as an unused substitute he came on as an eighty-first minute substitute for Radja Nainggolan and five minutes later headed a goal to make the final score 3-2 to FC Empoli. He was also on the mark in a 2-0 win over FC Treviso when he got the second goal with a header in the sixty -seventh minute after having replaced Radja Nainggolan eleven minutes earlier. In the Serie B he was in the squad on thirty-one occasions, starting fourteen, coming off the bench six times and being unused eleven times. The 2009-10 season started well as he scored twice in the second Serie B match of the season in a 3-2 home win over US Lecce on 29th August 2009 It was quite an eventful game for the midfielder as he was booked in the twenty-second minute scored with a right footed shot in the thirty-fifth minute to open the scoring then a left footed shot in the sixty-first minute to give his side a 3-0 lead and then he was substituted for Daniel Wolf in the seventy-third minute as his side hung on to scrape home 3-2. On 1st February 2010 he joined Serie A side Chievo Verona on loan and to that point he had made the teamsheet nineteen times, having started sixteen and come off the bench three times. He had also been chosen twice for the Italian Under Twenty-one side, making the starting eleven in the first in a 2-1 defeat by Wales at Swansea on 4th September 2009, in a team that included future Leeds teammate Giuseppe Bellusci and Mario Balotelli, but was substituted by Federico Macheda with fifteen minutes to go. He was an unused substitute in the second, which was a 2-0 home win over Luxembourg on 8th September 2009. In Serie A with Chievo Verona he could not make the squad other than on one occasion when he was unused in a 0-1 away defeat at FC Bari on 7th March 2010. He returned to Piacenza Calcio and was immediately in the starting squad scoring in the Coppa Italia 5-3 win, after extra-time at home to SS Virtus Lanciano on 14th August scoring in the second minute of extra-time to give his team a 4-3 lead. He also started in the 3-0 defeat at Cagliari on 27th October 2010, which saw their exit from the cup and in which he gave way to Nicola Silvestri in the sixty-third minute. He scored four goal in Serie B, getting the fourth goal with a right foot shot in the eighty-fourth minute of a 4-1 home win over Vincenza Calcio on 6th November 2010, followed in the next game three days later with a left footed shot in the twenty-eighth minute to equalise at 1-1 in a 2-2 away draw with Delfino Pescara. The third came on 19th February 2011 in the seventy-seventh minute when his right foot shot produced the second equaliser in a game at Robur Siena which they went on to win 3-2. The fourth was a header that made the score 1-1 in the twenty-sixth minute of the visit to Novara Calcio on 16th April 2011 which finished as a 2-2 draw. In the season he figured in 37 starts and in both relegation playoff games against UC AlbinoLeffe which saw Piacenza being relegated to Lega Pro Prima Divisione. In the 2011-12 season he played two Coppa Italia games for Piacenza before joining Serie B side US Sassuolo on 31st August 2011. He was sold in a joint ownership arrangement between the two clubs, with US Sassuolo having the right to buy the other half at the end of the season. He was an unused substitute in the first game at Hellas Verona on 4th September 2011, but was in the starting eleven for his debut in a 2-0 home win over AS Cittadella on 10th September 2011. In the season he was in the squad in thirty-five of the Serie B games, starting twenty-two coming off the bench seven times and being unused six times. He was also unused on the bench in one of the Play-off games at home to US Sampdoria on 2nd June 2012. While Sassuolo finished in third position in Serie B, they missed out on promotion via the Serie B playoff's after being defeated 3-2 on aggregate by the eventual winners Sampdoria. On 20th June 2012, Bianchi's ownership was made permanent by US Sassuolo. He started in both Coppa Italia games the club played in 2012-13 and in Serie B he scored four goals. The first was on 15th December 2012, in the twenty second minute was his shot was deflected into the net to give his side a two goal lead in a game at Calcio Padova which ended in a 3-1 win. His second came on Boxing Day 2012 when he headed his side 2-0 in front in the twenty-second minute of the game at As Livorno which they eventually lost by 3-2. Four days later he registered his third of the season with a left-footed shot in the sixty-fourth minute to put Sassuolo 3-0 up in a 5-0 home win against AC Cesena and his fourth came on 16th February when his right-footed shot in the sixty-sixth minute gave his team a 3-2 lead, which was the final score at home to Spezia Calcio. He was in the squad thirty-six times and started twenty-three and came of the bench seven times and remained unused on six occasions. On 18th May 2013, US Sassuolo won promotion from Serie B as Champions, which meant that they would play for the first time in the top tier of Italian football, Serie A. But Bianchi was not there to savour the occasion as after three games, one in the Coppa Italia, on 17th August 2013 in a 3-1 away win at Novara Calcio, and two in Serie A on 25th August 2013 in a 2-0 defeat at Torino and a 1-4 home defeat by AS Livorno a week later, he was loaned to Serie B side Modena FC on 31st August 2013. He made his starting debut for his new team in a 2-0 home win over AS Cittadella on 8th September 2013. His first goal came in his third game when he opened the scoring in the thirteenth minute with a roght foot shot as Modena went on to beat Reggina Calcio 3-0 at home on 19th October 2013. He scored twice more, getting the second equaliser with a right foot shot in the eighty-third minute of a 3-3 draw at home to Ternana Calcio on 25th April 2014 and finally scoring the only goal of the game in a 1-0 home win over AS Avellino on 17th May when he scored with a header in the forty-ninth minute. He was in the squad for forty games, starting thirty-five coming three times off the bench a and remaining unused on two occasions. Modena finished fifth in the League and this saw them involved in the promotion play-offs and Bianchi was involved in all three games from the start as Modena beat Spezia Calcio 1-0 on 3rd June to peogress to meet AC Cesena in a two-legged Semi-Final, losing 0-1 at home on 8th June 2014 and drawing the return 1-1 three days later as AC Cesena progressed to take the promotion spot, by eliminating third placed Latina in the final 4-2 on aggregate. On 13th July 2014, he signed a three year deal with Leeds United with an option of a fourth. Because he had a one match suspension from the previous season he missed the first Leeds fixture at Millwall and so made his debut in the home League Cup tie with Accrington Stanley on 12th August 2014 and his first Championship game followed on 16th August in Leeds' 1-0 victory against Middlesbrough. He soon established himself in the midfield, becoming one of the few regulars as Leeds changed coaches with monotonous regularity. But that came to an end when after twenty-three League games he was omitted after the final game of the calendar year in a 0-2 defeat at Derby County on 30th December 2014, which also saw six more of his team mates dropped for the Cup-tie with Sunderland as Neil Redfearn rang the changes after a poor Leeds performance against the Rams. He regained his place for the game at Reading on 10th February 2015, after Rodolph Austin cried off sick. But despite his good fortune from that source, bad luck struck as he limped off in the twenty-ninth minute to be replaced by Casper Sloth. The news got worse as a medical inspection showed that he needed knee surgery after suffering medial ligament damage, which would keep him out for the rest of the season. He made his come back in the Leeds pre-season games but once more bad luck dogged him, he sustained another knee injury on 21st July in the friendly with Eintracht Frankfurt. This also required surgery to the knee cartilage and ruled him out for the start of the season and beyond. After he regained fitness he was chosen on the bench for the first team F.A. Cup as United defeated Rotherham United 2-0 on 9th January 2016, but it was to be his only association with United as he was loaned to Italian Serie B side Ascoli later in the month and he went on to play a strong part in the club avoiding relegation and finishing fifteenth and making sixteen appearances for them. His contract with Leeds was due to expire in July 2017, but on 30th June 2016, Ascoli took up the option to sign him at the end of his loan period with them. He signed a three year contract with them at a fee agreed in the loan agreement.