Manolo Gabbiadini’s goal on his debut was the 400th Premier League strike contributed by an Italian.
The recent addition to Southampton’s ranks took just 12 minutes to open his account for the club with a well-taken finish against West Ham United on Saturday, and immediately wrote himself into the record books.
From Fabrizio Ravanelli’s memorable Premier League debut for Middlesbrough where he scored a hat-trick against Liverpool, to Gabbiadini’s strike over the weekend, there have been 400 goals scored by Italian players in the division since its formation in 1992.
The former Napoli man also becomes the third Italian to score for Saints too, following in the footsteps of Dani Osvaldo and Graziano Pellè who have also contributed goals in recent seasons.
During his two-year stay here Pellè joined an elite list of Italian footballers who scored over ten goals in one season for a club in the Premier League.
Pellè’s total of 23 goals for Saints made him the fifth highest scoring Italian in the Premier League of all-time, behind Ravanelli, Benito Carbone, Gianfranco Zola and Paolo Di Canio.
Gabbiadini also added his name to the list of players to score on their debut for Southampton, becoming the second player to do so this season, following Nathan Redmond’s contribution against Watford on the opening day of the campaign.
Other players to achieve that feat include Charlie Austin, whose header earned Saints all three points against Manchester United at Old Trafford last season, while Mick Channon, Colin Clarke, Rickie Lambert and Paul Rideout are among those who all enjoyed scoring debuts too.
Not only that, Gabbiaidni became the 100th different scorer for Southampton in the Premier League. There are 12 clubs in total which have achieved that figure to-date.
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