Fabio Borini

First Name	Fabio
Surname	Borini
Squad Number	29
Position	Forward
Height	1.8m
Weight	null kg
D.O.B.	29 Mar 1991
Town of Birth	Bentivoglio
Country of Birth	Italy
Nationality	Italy

Liverpool secured the services of one of Europe's most exciting young forwards when they completed the signing of Fabio Borini from AS Roma in July 2012.

The deal reunited the Italy international with Brendan Rodgers, who he worked with during his previous spell in England with Chelsea and Swansea City.

Born in Bologna in 1991, Borini took after his father as an avid supporter of his local club - and he duly joined Rossoblu's youth ranks at the age of 10.

Even at an early age, he displayed a knack for finding the back of the net prompting Jose Mourinho's Chelsea to invite him to London for a trial in the summer of 2007. Two goals in a friendly against Malmo were enough to secure a full-time contract.

It was at Stamford Bridge where Borini first struck up a relationship with Rodgers, who was operating as Academy Director before becoming reserve-team manager.

The Italian settled quickly into life in England as he enjoyed an impressive debut campaign - but it was his second season that really helped him catch the eye as he blasted 12 goals in as many matches at the start of 2008-09 across reserve and youth-team levels, earning him a permanent promotion to Chelsea's second-string squad.

Borini was really beginning to hone his craft, studying videos of Filippo Inzaghi and Fernando Torres, as well as keeping a close eye on the technique of Didier Drogba on the training ground.

A first-team breakthrough appeared inevitable and by the summer of 2009, first-team boss Carlo Ancelotti considered Borini - now an Italy U19 international - part of his senior plans and included him in his Champions League squad for the 09-10 campaign.

On September 20 of that year, he was handed his Chelsea debut, replacing Nicolas Anelka as a late substitute in a 3-0 win over Tottenham at Stamford Bridge.

A first start followed just three days later in a League Cup tie against Queens Park Rangers, while he acquired a cameo appearance in the Champions League against APOEL.

In total, he made eight senior appearances that season, earned his first Italy U21 cap and was named as his country's captain for the European U19 Championships in 2010.

Injuries hampered his first-team progress the following campaign. Shortly after hitting all five goals in a 5-4 reserve-team win over West Brom in October 2010, Borini underwent a hernia operation that ruled him out of action for several months. Typically, he returned in style, blasting a hat-trick against West Ham.

By now, Rodgers was established as Swansea manager and looking to secure promotion to the Premier League.

With the Swans entering the final straight, the manager sought some additional firepower to see them over the line - and he knew just where to find it, snapping-up Borini on loan in March 2011.

His impact was instant. Two goals on his debut versus Nottingham Forest set the tone for an electrifying spell at the Liberty Stadium, which yielded six goals from 12 appearances and culminated in an excellent performance in the Play-Off final at Wembley against Reading to help seal Swansea's return to the top flight.

With his contract at Chelsea now expired, Borini opted to return to Italy in the summer of 2011, signing for Parma before being subsequently loaned out to Roma.

His star continued to rise at the Stadio Olimpico where he scored nine goals in 20 league starts, including a brace in a 4-0 win over Inter Milan.

Firmly regarded as one of his country's brightest prospects, Borini made his international debut against the USA in February and was included in Italy's squad for Euro 2012, where the Azzurri were beaten finalists.

And within a couple of weeks of the tournament's conclusion, Borini went some way to getting over his heartbreak by returning to become the first signing of Rodgers's Anfield era.

#WECOMENOTTOPLAY