| Sebastiano Esposito | |
| Birth Date: | 2 July 2002 |
| Birth Place: | Castellammare di Stabia, Italy |
| Height: | 1.86 m |
| Position: | Forward |
| Currentclub: | Empoli (on loan from Inter Milan) |
| Clubnumber: | 99 |
| Youthyears1: | 2006–2011 |
| Youthclubs1: | Napoli Castellammare di Stabia |
| Youthyears2: | 2011–2014 |
| Youthclubs2: | Brescia |
| Youthyears3: | 2014–2019 |
| Youthclubs3: | Inter Milan |
| Years1: | 2019– |
| Clubs1: | Inter Milan |
| Caps1: | 7 |
| Goals1: | 1 |
| Years2: | 2020–2021 |
| Clubs2: | → SPAL (loan) |
| Caps2: | 10 |
| Goals2: | 1 |
| Years3: | 2021 |
| Clubs3: | → Venezia (loan) |
| Caps3: | 18 |
| Goals3: | 2 |
| Years4: | 2021–2022 |
| Clubs4: | → Basel (loan) |
| Caps4: | 23 |
| Goals4: | 6 |
| Years5: | 2022–2023 |
| Clubs5: | → Anderlecht (loan) |
| Caps5: | 14 |
| Goals5: | 1 |
| Years6: | 2023 |
| Clubs6: | → Bari (loan) |
| Caps6: | 11 |
| Goals6: | 4 |
| Years7: | 2023–2024 |
| Clubs7: | → Sampdoria (loan) |
| Caps7: | 22 |
| Goals7: | 6 |
| Years8: | 2024– |
| Clubs8: | → Empoli (loan) |
| Caps8: | 0 |
| Goals8: | 0 |
| Nationalyears1: | 2017–2018 |
| Nationalteam1: | Italy U16 |
| Nationalcaps1: | 12 |
| Nationalgoals1: | 8 |
| Nationalyears2: | 2018–2019 |
| Nationalteam2: | Italy U17 |
| Nationalcaps2: | 20 |
| Nationalgoals2: | 14 |
| Nationalyears3: | 2019 |
| Nationalteam3: | Italy U18 |
| Nationalcaps3: | 2 |
| Nationalgoals3: | 1 |
| Nationalyears4: | 2019 |
| Nationalteam4: | Italy U19 |
| Nationalcaps4: | 3 |
| Nationalgoals4: | 2 |
| Nationalyears5: | 2022 |
| Nationalteam5: | Italy U20 |
| Nationalcaps5: | 2 |
| Nationalgoals5: | 0 |
| Nationalyears6: | 2020– |
| Nationalteam6: | Italy U21 |
| Nationalcaps6: | 11 |
| Nationalgoals6: | 0 |
| Club-Update: | 10 May 2024 |
| Nationalteam-Update: | 12 June 2024 |
Sebastiano Esposito (pronounced as /it/; born 2 July 2002) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Empoli, on loan from 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.[1] [2] [3] 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. On 18 June 2020, he was nominated for the Golden Boy award.
On 25 September 2020, he joined SPAL on loan.[4]
On 15 January 2021, Esposito joined Venezia on loan.[5]
On 13 July 2021, he was loaned to Swiss club Basel, with an option to buy.[6] 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.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9]
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.[10]
On 4 July 2022, Esposito joined Belgian club Anderlecht on loan.[11] On 31 January 2023, Esposito moved on a new loan to Bari in Serie B.[12]
On 22 August 2023, Esposito joined Serie B club Sampdoria on loan.[13]
He took part in the 2019 UEFA European Under-17 Championship, reaching the final of the tournament.
He made his debut with the Italy U21 on 3 September 2020, in a friendly match won 2–1 against Slovenia.
He is the younger brother of midfielder Salvatore Esposito,[14] and the older brother of striker Francesco Pio Esposito.[15]
| Season | League | National cup | 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 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | ||
| 2019–20 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | — | 14 | 1 | ||||
| Total | 7 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | — | 15 | 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 | 1 | — | 34 | 7 | ||
| Anderlecht (loan) | 2022–23 | Belgian Pro League | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | — | 21 | 2 | ||
| Bari (loan) | 2022–23 | Serie B | 11 | 4 | — | — | 4 | 0 | 15 | 4 | |||
| Sampdoria (loan) | 2023–24 | Serie B | 22 | 6 | — | — | 1 | 0 | 23 | 6 | |||
| Empoli (loan) | 2024–25 | Serie A | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | — | 1 | 1 | |||
| Career total | 104 | 19 | 7 | 1 | 23 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 141 | 24 | |||
Inter Milan
Italy U17
Individual