UEFA honours
UEFA European Championship: runner-up 2012

• Born in the central Italian town of Cassino to Nigerian parents who had emigrated to Italy five years earlier.

• Scouted by Torino, he developed his game in the club's youth academy and made his first-team debut as an 18-year-old in a Serie A encounter against Reggina Calcio on 11 February 2007.

• Spent the whole of the 2007/08 season on loan to Serie C1 side FC Crotone before returning to top-flight football with Torino in 2008/09; made 19 appearances as the Granata finished 18th and were relegated.

• Stayed loyal to Torino and won the first of ten U21 caps in August 2009; became a defensive linchpin of his club side despite a succession of coaching changes, making 28 appearances in 2009/10, 35 in 2010/11 and 36 in the promotion-winning campaign of 2011/12 as the Toro finished runners-up to Pescara Calcio.

• Received his first senior cap for Italy on 11 November 2011 in a 2-0 win against Poland in Wroclaw, coming on as a 77th-minute substitute; his first start came in a 1-0 home defeat by the United States the following February.

• Was an unused squad member in Poland and Ukraine as Italy finished as runners-up to Spain at UEFA EURO 2012.