Massimo Donati

Massimo Donati

Personal information
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Celtic
Number	18
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 17 July 2006

Massimo Donati (born 26 March 1981 in Sedegliano, Udine) is an Italian football midfielder currently contracted to Scottish Premier League club Celtic F.C..

Career

Massimo Donati holds the current record for being the most capped Italy Under-21 player, although he has never been capped by the National side. Donati is an attacking midfilder and started his career at Atalanta, and moved to AC Milan in 2001 for €15 million. However, due to the competition at the club, Donati was unable to claim a first team place, spending the 2002-03 season on loan at Parma and Torino respectively.

His second season (2003-04 season) at the San Siro saw him join Sampdoria on loan, before enjoying a successful spell at Messina for the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons.

Despite finding his form at Messina, Donati still found himself out of favour at Milan, and was sent again on loan for the 2006-2007 season, this time to his first club Atalanta.

In early June 2007, it was rumoured in various sports and media publications that Donati had been targetted by Scottish champions Celtic. This rumour was confirmed by his agent on June 18, when he stated that Donati was travelling to Glasgow for signing talks. On June 23 Celtic confirmed the £3 million signing of Massimo Donati on a 4 year contract subject to a medical, while the transfer was officially confirmed to the media on June 25.