Once labelled the heir apparent to Alessandro Del Piero at Juventus, Sebastian Giovinco struggled to live up to that early promise and eventually departed his native Turin. However, the diminutive forward has revived his career at Parma FC and has the natural talent to make his breakthrough for Italy at UEFA EURO 2012.

• Joined Juventus as a youth, eventually making his first-team debut on 12 May 2007 at the end of the club's Serie B-winning campaign.

• Upgraded to Serie A on loan at Empoli FC but despite a season of promise, which brought him six goals, he could not save the Tuscan team from relegation; represented Italy at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing before returning to Juventus.

• Made only sporadic Serie A appearances for the Bianconeri in the two seasons after his return, but did feature in back-to-back UEFA Champions League campaigns and starred for Italy at the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Sweden.

• Released by Juventus to play on loan at Parma in 2010/11, he made 30 league appearances, scoring seven goals, three of them against his parent club; his renaissance earned him a senior debut for Italy − as a substitute in a friendly against Germany on 9 February 2011.

• Joined Parma on a permanent basis for the 2011/12 campaign and maintained his upward curve, matching his previous season's goal tally by Christmas and making his first competitive start for Italy in their final UEFA EURO 2012 qualifier − a 3-0 defeat of Northern Ireland in Pescara.