Luca Di Matteo is an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 football

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 midfielder

Midfielder

A midfielder is an association football position. Some midfielders play a more defensive role, while others blur the boundaries between midfielders and forwards. The number of midfielders a team uses during a match may vary, depending on the team's formation and each individual player's role...

, currently playing with Palermo

U.S. Città di Palermo

Unione Sportiva Città di Palermo is an Italian football club from Palermo, Sicily which currently plays in Serie A, the top level of Italian football. Formed in 1900 as Anglo Panormitan Athletic and Football Club, the club had various names before assuming its final form in 1987 and is currently...

.

Career

Di Matteo started his career with Pescara

Pescara Calcio

Delfino Pescara 1936 is an Italian football club based in Pescara, Abruzzo.The club was formed in 1936 and currently plays in Italian Serie B. Pescara has competed in 5 seasons in Serie A...

, establishing himself as a player with good potential despite his young age. On January 31, 2008 Palermo signed him from then-Serie C1

Serie C1

Lega Pro Prima Divisione is the name of the third highest football league in Italy. It consists of 36 teams, divided geographically into two divisions of 18 teams each. Until 2008 it was known as Serie C1....

 club Pescara, together with teammate Edgar Çani

Edgar Çani

Edgar Çani is an Albanian football striker, who currently plays for Polonia Warszawa.-Career:Çani was born in Albania but grew up in Città della Pieve, Province of Perugia, Italy. Çani was first noted by a Pescara scout in 2004, and then signed by the biancazzurri...

, after he was linked with possible moves to Fiorentina

ACF Fiorentina

ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as simply Fiorentina, is a professional Italian football club from Florence, Tuscany. Founded by a merger in 1926, Fiorentina have played at the top level of Italian football for the majority of their existence; only four clubs have played in more Serie A...

 and Udinese

Udinese Calcio

Udinese Calcio is an Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, and currently plays in the Serie A. Founded in 1896, Udinese is the second oldest club in the Serie A, after Genoa....

.

He made his Serie A

Serie A

Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...

 debut on April 27, 2008 in a 0–0 home tie against Atalanta

Atalanta B.C.

Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio, commonly known as just Atalanta, Atalanta Bergamo or the abbreviation Atalanta BC, is an Italian football club based in Bergamo, Lombardy.They are nicknamed the Nerazzurri and the orobici...

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Di Matteo was confirmed as part of the Palermo first team squad for the 2008–09 season

Serie A 2008-09

The 2008–09 Serie A was the seventy-seventh season since its establishment. It began on 30 August 2008 and ended on 31 May 2009, with the announcement of the list of fixtures made on 25 July 2008...

, but was never featured on the patch and he was successively loaned out to Serie B

Serie B

Serie B, currently named Serie bwin due to sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It is contested by 22 teams and organized by the Lega Serie B since July 2010, after the split of Lega Calcio that previously took care of both the...

 outfit Cittadella

A.S. Cittadella

Associazione Sportiva Cittadella is an Italian association football club, based in Cittadella, Veneto.-History:Cittadella was founded in 1973, after the merger of U.S. Cittadellense and A.S. Olympia. The club spent most of its first years in amateur football, and then professional football at Serie...

 on February 2, 2009 for the remainder of the season.
He spend the first half of the 2009–10 season on loan to Crotone

F.C. Crotone

Football Club Crotone is an Italian football club based in Crotone, Calabria. Founded in 1923, it currently plays in Serie B, holding home games at Stadio Ezio Scida, which has a 9,631-seat capacity.-History:...

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On February 2010, Di Matteo agreed to leave Crotone and join Vicenza

Vicenza Calcio

Vicenza Calcio is an Italian football club based in Vicenza, Veneto. The club was formed in 1902 and currently plays in Italy's Serie B, having spent the entire 1960s and a large part of the 1990s in Serie A...

, this time in a co-ownership bid between Palermo and his new club.

Di Matteo made his second comeback to Palermo on June 2011, as his co-ownership was solved in favour of the rosanero. In return Nicola Rigoni

Nicola Rigoni

Nicola Rigoni is an Italian association football midfielder who is currently signed with Vicenza, on loan from Palermo.-Career:...

was sold back to Vicenza.