| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 24 January 2002 | ||
| Place of birth | Borgo San Lorenzo, Italy | ||
| Height | 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) [1] | ||
| Position(s) | Centre-back, left-back | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Empoli (on loan from Nice) | ||
| Number | 21 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2006–2009 | Ponte a Greve | ||
| 2009–2010 | Audace Legnaia | ||
| 2010–2020 | Empoli | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2020–2022 | Empoli | 22 | (0) |
| 2022– | Nice | 9 | (1) |
| 2023–2024 | → Sassuolo (loan) | 15 | (1) |
| 2024– | → Empoli (loan) | 21 | (0) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2017 | Italy U15 | 2 | (0) |
| 2018 | Italy U16 | 3 | (0) |
| 2020 | Italy U18 | 2 | (0) |
| 2021 | Italy U20 | 4 | (0) |
| 2022– | Italy U21 | 6 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 18 February 2025 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 24 March 2023 | |||
Mattia Viti (born 24 January 2002) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back or left-back for Serie A club Empoli, on loan from Ligue 1 club Nice.
Born in Borgo San Lorenzo, [2] [3] [4] [5] in the province of Florence, Mattia Viti already played football at the age of 4, with the club of Ponte a Greve—that would later merge with Rondinella Marzocco—in the Tuscan capital. [3] [6] Having moved to the nearby Audace Legnaia, he joined the Empoli academy as an 8-year-old, in 2010. [3] [5] [7]
After a full 2019–20 season with the Primavera, Viti made his professional debut on the 30 September 2020, starting a 2–1 Coppa Italia win against Renate. [8] He played his first Serie B game with Empoli on the 9 April 2021, replacing Nedim Bajrami in a 1–0 away win to Reggina, already proving to be decisive with a late minute goal line clearance. [6] [9] [10] His side eventually won the championship, making their come-back in Italy's top flight, while the Primavera squad also won their championship. [11]
On 22 September 2021 he made his Serie A debut in a 2–0 away victory against Cagliari, with Aurelio Andreazzoli making him start and finish the game, as the youngster proved to be instrumental in keeping a clean sheet for the Azzurri. [12] [13] [14]
During the following months—despite having to face the loss of his mother in November 2021 [15] —he became a regular with the first team, alternating with Sebastiano Luperto or the veterans Tonelli and Romagnoli. He was a starter for several important Serie A wins, against the likes of Bologna, [16] Sassuolo [17] or Udinese, [18] appearing as one of the Italian championship most promising young defenders. [2] [5] [13] [14] [19] [20]
On 3 August 2022, Viti joined Ligue 1 side Nice on a permanent deal for an undisclosed fee, believed to be in the region of €13 million. [21] [22]
On 12 July 2023, Serie A side Sassuolo announced the signing of Viti on a season-long loan with a future option to buy. [23]
On 22 July 2024, Viti returned to Empoli, signing on loan until the end of the 2024–25 season, with an option to make the deal permanent. [24]
Viti is a youth international for Italy, [4] having played at under-15, [25] under-16 [26] and under-18 levels. [27]
In September 2021, he was selected with the under-20, [28] making his debut during a 1–0 away friendly win against Serbia on the 6 September and becoming a regular starter for the team in November, [29] [30] [31] before being promoted to the under-21 side, [32] where he was however forced to withdraw due to injury. [33] [34]
A left-footed centre-back with a good physical presence, he is seen as a technically gifted defender, able to launch offensive movements from the back, who doesn't hesitate to take risks and dribble to move froward. [11] [13] [14] [20]
Proactive in putting pressure on the opponent, he has a good discipline—not having received a single card during his first six months in Serie A—but still does his far share of defensive tasks, as he was for example among the top 1% of centre-backs in the top 5 European leagues in therms of blocks, halfway through his first Serie A season. [13]
Very soon compared to former Empoli star Daniele Rugani, [3] [4] [6] his profile is often associated with the one of Alessandro Bastoni. [13] [14] He cites Sergio Ramos and Paolo Maldini as his main inspirations as a player. [3] [6] [5]
| Club | Season | League | National cup [a] | Europe | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Empoli | 2020–21 | Serie B | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 5 | 0 | |
| 2021–22 | Serie A | 20 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 21 | 0 | ||
| Total | 22 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | 26 | 0 | |||
| Nice | 2022–23 | Ligue 1 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 12 | 1 |
| Sassuolo (loan) | 2023–24 | Serie A | 15 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 1 |
| Empoli (loan) | 2024–25 | Serie A | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Career total | 46 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 56 | 2 | ||
Empoli