Sebastiano Esposito
Italian footballer (born 2002)
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Sebastiano Esposito (Italian pronunciation: [sebaˈstjaːno eˈspɔːzito]; born 2 July 2002) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Serie A club Sassuolo, on loan from Cagliari.
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Esposito playing for Inter Milan in 2023 | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 2 July 2002 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Castellammare di Stabia, Italy | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Position | Forward | ||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||
Current team |
Sassuolo (on loan from Cagliari) | ||||||||||||||||
| Number | 94 | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| 2006–2011 | Club Napoli | ||||||||||||||||
| 2011–2014 | Brescia | ||||||||||||||||
| 2014–2019 | Inter Milan | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 2019–2026 | Inter Milan | 7 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2020–2021 | → SPAL (loan) | 10 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2021 | → Venezia (loan) | 18 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| 2021–2022 | → Basel (loan) | 23 | (6) | ||||||||||||||
| 2022–2023 | → Anderlecht (loan) | 14 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2023 | → Bari (loan) | 11 | (4) | ||||||||||||||
| 2023–2024 | → Sampdoria (loan) | 22 | (6) | ||||||||||||||
| 2024–2025 | → Empoli (loan) | 33 | (8) | ||||||||||||||
| 2025–2026 | → Cagliari (loan) | 36 | (7) | ||||||||||||||
| 2026– | Cagliari | 0 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2026– | → Sassuolo (loan) | 1 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| International career‡ | |||||||||||||||||
| 2017–2018 | Italy U16 | 12 | (8) | ||||||||||||||
| 2018–2019 | Italy U17 | 20 | (14) | ||||||||||||||
| 2019 | Italy U18 | 2 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2019 | Italy U19 | 3 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| 2022 | Italy U20 | 2 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2020–2025 | Italy U21 | 13 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 14:51, 14 September 2026 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals as of 24 March 2025 | |||||||||||||||||
Club career
Inter Milan
Esposito made his professional debut for Inter Milan at 16 years old, on 14 March 2019, in the second leg of Europa League match against Eintracht Frankfurt, coming in as a substitute for Borja Valero in the 73rd minute. He became the youngest player ever to feature in a European competition match for the club.
The following season, on 23 October 2019 he made his debut in Champions League, replacing Romelu Lukaku in the group stage match against Borussia Dortmund, and becoming the first player born in 2002 and the second youngest ever for the club to feature in a Champions League/European Cup match, after Giuseppe Bergomi.[2][3][4] On 26 October, he made his Serie A debut, aged 17, coming as a substitute for Lautaro Martínez in a home match against Parma in San Siro. On 21 December 2019, Esposito scored his first goal for Inter, on his full debut, from a penalty in a 4–0 win at home against Genoa.[5] On 15 June 2020, he was nominated for the Golden Boy award.[6]
2020–21 season: Loans to SPAL and Venezia
On 25 September 2020, he joined SPAL on loan.[7] On 15 January 2021, Esposito joined Venezia on loan.[8]
2021–22 season: Loan to Basel
On 13 July 2021, he was loaned to Swiss club Basel, with an option to buy.[9] Basel confirmed the loan deal on the same day and Esposito joined Basel's first team for their 2021–22 season under head coach Patrick Rahmen.[10] After playing in one test game, Esposito played his debut for his new club in the second qualifying round of the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League, a home game in the St. Jakob-Park on 22 July 2021, as Basel won 3–0 against Partizani Tirana.[11] Three days later, on 25 July, Esposito made his Swiss Super League debut for Basel against Grasshoppers and scored his first goal for the club in the same game as they recorded 2–0 victory.[12]
At the end of the season, Basel decided not to pull the purchase option. During his time with the club, Esposito played a total of 39 games for Basel, scoring a total of nine goals. 23 of these games were in the Swiss Super League, one in the Swiss Cup, ten in the UEFA Europa Conference League and five were friendly games. He scored six goals in the domestic league, one in the Conference League and the other two were scored during the test games.[13]
2022–23 season: Loans to Anderlecht and Bari
On 4 July 2022, Esposito joined Belgian club Anderlecht on loan.[14] On 31 January 2023, Esposito moved on a new loan to Bari in Serie B.[15]
Loans to Sampdoria and Empoli
On 22 August 2023, Esposito joined Serie B club Sampdoria on loan.[16]
On 17 July 2024, Esposito joined Serie A side Empoli on loan.[17] Despite the club's relegation to Serie B, he recorded a personal best by scoring 8 goals during the season.[18]
Return to Inter
Following his loan spell, he returned to his parent club, Inter Milan, to take part in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.[19] He started for Inter in their first match in the competition against Monterrey.[20]
Cagliari
On 12 August 2025, Esposito joined fellow Serie A side Cagliari on a season-long loan with an obligation to make the transfer permanent for €4 million, which was activated by the club on 1 July 2026.[21]
Loan to Sassuolo
On 29 August 2026, amid a contract dispute with Cagliari,[22] Esposito joined Sassuolo on a season-long loan with an option to buy for €11 million.[23]
International career
He took part in the 2019 UEFA European Under-17 Championship, reaching the final of the tournament.
Esposito made his debut with the Italy U21 on 3 September 2020, in a friendly match won 2–1 against Slovenia.
He was one of the players who were called up with the Italy national team by head coach Roberto Mancini for the 2026–27 UEFA Nations League matches against Belgium, Turkey and France between 25 September and 5 October 2026.[24]
Personal life
He is the younger brother of midfielder Salvatore Esposito,[25] and the older brother of striker Pio Esposito.[26]
Career statistics
Club
- As of match played 13 September 2026[27]
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | Europe | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Inter Milan | 2018–19 | Serie A | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1[b] | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | |
| 2019–20 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5[c] | 0 | — | 14 | 1 | |||
| 2024–25 | — | — | — | 4[d] | 0 | 4 | 0 | |||||
| Total | 7 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 19 | 1 | ||
| SPAL (loan) | 2020–21 | Serie B | 10 | 1 | 3 | 0 | — | — | 13 | 1 | ||
| Venezia (loan) | 2020–21 | Serie B | 19 | 2 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 19 | 2 | ||
| Basel (loan) | 2021–22 | Swiss Super League | 23 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 10[e] | 1 | — | 34 | 7 | |
| Anderlecht (loan) | 2022–23 | Belgian Pro League | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7[e] | 1 | — | 21 | 2 | |
| Bari (loan) | 2022–23 | Serie B | 11 | 4 | — | — | 4[f] | 0 | 15 | 4 | ||
| Sampdoria (loan) | 2023–24 | Serie B | 22 | 6 | — | — | 1[f] | 0 | 23 | 6 | ||
| Empoli (loan) | 2024–25 | Serie A | 33 | 8 | 2 | 2 | — | — | 35 | 10 | ||
| Cagliari (loan) | 2025–26 | Serie A | 35 | 7 | 3 | 1 | — | — | 38 | 8 | ||
| Cagliari | 2026–27 | Serie A | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 0 | 0 | ||
| Sassuolo (loan) | 2026–27 | Serie A | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 2 | 1 | ||
| Career total | 173 | 37 | 12 | 3 | 23 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 219 | 42 | ||
- Includes Coppa Italia, Swiss Cup
- Appearance in UEFA Europa League
- Three appearances in UEFA Champions League, two appearances in UEFA Europa League
- Appearances in FIFA Club World Cup
- Appearances in UEFA Europa Conference League
- Appearance(s) in Serie B promotion play-offs
Honours
Inter Milan
- UEFA Europa League runner-up: 2019–20
Italy U17
- UEFA European Under-17 Championship runner-up: 2019
Individual
- UEFA European Under-17 Championship Team of the Tournament: 2019[28]
