PROFIL : Amauri Carvalho de Oliveira

Amauri Carvalho de Oliveira (born June 3, 1980 in Carapicuíba, São Paulo), better known as Amauri, is a Brazilian football player. He plays as a striker for Italian Serie A team Juventus.

Club career

He played at the prestigious Viareggio Tournament in Italy with his Brazilian Club, he was young and received many offers from Italian clubs, but he decided to choose a Swiss club to slowly start his career in Europe. After two seasons in Switzerland for Challenge League team AC Bellinzona, Amauri was signed by Parma and immediately loaned to Napoli in January 2001, making his Serie A debut on April 14, 2001 in a league match against Bari.

He then played for Piacenza in Serie A for the 2001–02 season, Messina in Serie B in the 2002–03 season and Chievo Verona from 2003 to 2006.

During his time for Chievo, and especially in the 2005–06 season, ended with a qualification to the preliminary phase of UEFA Champions League (also favoured by the 2006 Serie A scandal), Amauri showed most of his potential, becoming one of the key players of the team.

Palermo

On August 31, 2006, the last day of the 2006 summer transfer period, Amauri was sold to Palermo for around €8 million, after having scored two goals in the return match of the third qualifying round against PFC Levski Sofia.

Immediately from his debut with Palermo, Amauri became a fan favourite and a key player for the Rosanero, scoring eight goals in 18 league matches until December 2006. A serious knee injury in a league match against Siena prevented him from playing for seven months; however Amauri recovered in time for the start of the 2007-08 season, being immediately featured in the regular lineup for Palermo's first match against AS Roma. He scored his first goal in the new season in the next match, a 4-2 away win to Livorno.

Juventus

On May 30, 2008 Amauri completed a €15.3 million (plus the full property of Antonio Nocerino and the co-ownership of Davide Lanzafame) move to the Italian giants, Juve. Since his arrival Amauri has impressed greatly in training and put on superb performances during Juventus' pre-season campaign. Against Serie C2 side AC Mezzocorona, he scored five goals in a 7-1 victory. He also has impressed and also hit the back of the net versus Brondby and versus Borussia Dortmund. He also impressed during Juventus' TIM Trophy against AC Milan and Inter, and Juventus' English Tour, in the Emirates Cup and against Manchester United in a classic at Old Trafford. He will fight for a first team position along with Alessandro Del Piero, David Trezeguet, and Vincenzo Iaquinta.

International career

Amauri, who never appeared at the international level for the Brazilian team, has recently asked to acquire an Italian passport, as he has lived and played in Italy for five years: therefore, he will be eligible in the future to play for the Italian national team. Following his impressive performances when at Palermo, he was suggested to be a potential call-up of the then Azzurri coach Roberto Donadoni, who stated he might be interested in calling him to the Italian squad.[1] He is now expected to choose between Italy and Brazil in the near future.In the month of December, Dunga made some statements that he was going to call up Amauri but that he was not guaranteed a national team spot.