Matteo Spagnolo
Matteo Spagnolo (born 10 January 2003) is an Italian professional basketball player for Vanoli Cremona of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) on loan from Real Madrid. Early life and career. Spagnolo started playing basketball at the age of four and began his youth career with Aurora Brindisi. At age 12, he scored 78 points and 77 points in the semifinal and final of the regional under-14 championship, respectively. At 13 years of age, Spagnolo moved to Rome to join Stella Azzurra. He made his Serie B debut at age 14, becoming the youngest Italian to play  at the senior level. On 2 May 2018, he moved to Real Madrid in Spain, where he became the first Italian to join the club's youth academy. At Adidas Next Generation Tournament Munich in January 2020, Spagnolo averaged 9.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game, helping Real Madrid's under-18 team win the title. Professional career. On 8 March 2020, Spagnolo made his senior debut for Real Madrid, playing 36 seconds in a Liga ACB loss to Zaragoza. In 2021–22 season Spagnolo was transferred on loan to Vanoli Cremona in the Italian Serie A. National team career . Spagnolo averaged 16.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, three steals and 2.6 assists per game for Italy at the 2019 FIBA U16 European Championship in Udine. He was named to the All-Star Five after helping his team earn the bronze medal. On 20 February 2020, at age 17, Spagnolo made his senior debut for Italy, scoring three points in a win over Russia at the EuroBasket qualification stage. He became the third-youngest player to play for Italy's senior team.