Federico Macheda is a famous Italian footballer who, despite his fairly young age, has already managed to change many clubs. And there are reasons for this.
Start of activity
Federico Macheda was born in 1991, on August 22, in Rome. He is a pupil of the club “Lazio”, which included until 2007. When he was 16 years old, he moved to Manchester United. A significant reason for such a decision was one of the Italian laws, which prohibits young players from entering into professional contracts until they reach adulthood. Therefore, the young Italian, having moved to England with his family, officially became part of the United system and began a three-year training at the club’s academy.
Career at Manchester United
The debut of the young Italian took place on September 17 in a game against Barnsley. Then he scored his first goal. The first season was very good for him. The young striker managed to score 12 goals in 21 matches! The performance was amazing. Even Sir Alex Ferguson said that Federico Makeda is a football player who plays truly skillfully. He can make a goal literally out of thin air. In his youth, Cristiano Ronaldo was exactly the same. Of course, he does not have such a lightning reaction, like the Portuguese. However, Federico is very fast. Sir Alex also said that it was difficult for him to believe in the age of the Italian striker. The great English coach even joked about it: “I think it's time to check his birth certificate. I can’t believe that he is 17 years old - probably Federico is already 28! ”
Since 2008, the football player has already been listed in the United reserve team. And on February 26, he even replaced Gerard Pique. By the way, Makeda signed a professional contract on the day he turned 17 years old. And he continued to play for the youth squad, periodically entering the field as a reservist. However, by the end of the season, Federico showed an amazing result: 8 goals in 8 matches! He was particularly impressed with the hat-trick, designed in the game against “Newcastle”, which was held on May 30, 2009. It is not surprising that after this Federico Makeda was invited to the main part of the “MU”.
Next years
Federico Makeda, whose biography abounds with facts about his path to success and career, rarely went out on the field. Despite the fact that he had previously demonstrated excellent results, over the 6 years of his career at Manchester United, he played in only 19 matches and scored 4 goals.
The meeting between “Manchester United” and “Sunderland” became a memorable game. The Italian came on as a substitute in the middle of the second half and scored the winning goal after 46 seconds. Before that, the score was 1: 1. Thanks to his goal, Federico Makeda got a chance to get into the next match in the starting lineup of “MJ”. And he took advantage of it. True, I could not distinguish anything in that match. Before the start of extra time, it was replaced. But in that season he was awarded a trophy as the best young football player of the year. In honor of this event, the corresponding Jimmy Murphy prize was awarded.
At the end of 2009, Federico Makeda signed a new contract with Manchester United, but was soon injured and dropped out for a month and a half. Another followed. As a result, he appeared on the field in late March. And in April he entered the field in the most important match against Chelsea FC and scored a goal in the 81st minute. He did not save the game - all the same, “MJ” lost 2-1.
Other clubs
In 2011, Federico Makeda was leased to Sampdoria. Sir Alex Ferguson did not want to let the player go outside the country, but the player himself wanted to return to his homeland. FC Lazio was interested in him, but Federico decided to go to Genoa.
For a long time he did not stay there, he was rented by FC Queens Park Rangers (02.01.2012). On the same day that the contract was concluded, he made his debut against FC Norwich City. True, after two and a half months he was injured and returned to the “MU” to rehabilitate himself.
His next club was “Stuttgart” (2013). And when the 2013/14 season ended, Federico left Manchester United and signed a contract with Cardiff City. There he played 27 matches and scored 6 goals. Since 2016, Federico is one of the football players of Nottingham Forest FC.