When Manchester United won the race to sign Davide Petrucci in 2008, it looked like they were onto a winner.
The Italian youth international was held in high regard after coming through the ranks at hometown club AS Roma, but left without playing a minute for the first team. He told Mirror Football in 2021 that he didn't want to leave the team he supported as a boy, but the chance of turning out for the reigning Champions League winners was "too big to turn down".
He never got that chance, though, leaving Old Trafford without playing a minute for the first team. And in more than a decade since, he has been trying his luck in a number of different European leagues with mixed success, winning the second senior trophy of his career last season.
Reflecting on his six years in England, Petrucci has fond memories of his interactions with the stars at the time. “Even if you weren’t playing for the first team, you could eat with Rio Ferdinand, Cristiano Ronaldo and they would chat to us, make us understand what the club was like," he said.
“Talking about the history, the way they play, the way we have to do things, to improve, the way we train. It was like the biggest school you could go through.”
United won three league titles during his time at the club, but he wasn't on the pitch for any of them. However, he was part of the under-21 side which won back-to-back titles during Sir Alex Ferguson's final seasons in charge, captaining the team in 2011-12 and playing with the likes of Jesse Lingard, Joshua King and his good friend Federico Macheda.
When Ferguson left, Petrucci was already 21 years old, and David Moyes' decision to loan him out seemed to suggest the end was nigh. After temporary stints at Royal Antwerp and Charlton Athletic, he opted to leave permanently in the summer of 2014 and began his European tour.
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Upon confirming Petrucci's move to CFR Cluj in 2014, United made reference to the injuries which hampered his development. The Romanian side had faced United in the previous season's Champions League, beating the English side at Old Trafford, but Petrucci never had the opportunity to represent Cluj at Europe's top table.
He did, however, win his first senior trophy with the club, That came in 2016, when he scored from the penalty spot in a shoot-out victory over Dinamo Bucuresti in the Romanian cup final.
That cup success would mark the beginning of the end of Petrucci's Romanian foray, though, and he was soon off to Turkey with Caykur Rizespor. It was there that he shared a pitch with another former Premier League starlet in the form of ex-Arsenal left-back Armand Traore, but after three years and more than 50 league appearances he was on the move again, this time returning to Italy.
His two years back in his homeland were divided between two clubs, Ascoli and Cosenza, with both teams narrowly escaping relegation. Once again, though, he opted not to stay in one place for too long.
Petrucci's next move, in 2021, saw him move to Israel and join Hapoel Be'er Sheva. The five-time title winners have brought in a number of players with experience of English football including former Swansea striker Itay Shechter and ex-Brighton and QPR frontman Tomer Hemed, and Petrucci was a regular for the first half of last season.
That changed after the turn of the year, though, with foreign player rules seeing him drop out of the first team squad. He wasn't on the pitch for the 2022 State Cup final victory, and has also been absent from Hapoel's squad for this season's Europa Conference League campaign.
He isn't the only member of his Man Utd generation forced to move around in search of football. Macheda is now playing in Turkey, as is King, while Scott Wootton - who followed Petrucci to Peterborough in an early loan - moved to New Zealand earlier this year.
While it didn't work out for Petrucci at United, he has still played far more top-flight football than most will manage in their careers. As he prepares for his 31st birthday, another European adventure could well be on the cards.
