Newcastle new boy Sandro Tonali announced himself in the Premier League with a stunning debut in Saturday’s 5-1 demolition of Aston Villa.
However, the £52million former AC Milan midfielder is not the first Italian to make an early impact, for better or for worse, in England’s top flight.
Here, the PA news agency takes a look at how he and some of his predecessors fared in their first appearances.
Sandro Tonali
Newcastle invested heavily in 23-year-old Italy international Tonali this summer and he wasted little time in starting to pay off his fee. He scored six minutes into his competitive debut at St James’ Park and went on to produce a fine individual display to inspire the Magpies to a victory which suggested they picked up where they left off at the end of the previous campaign.
Fabrizio Ravanelli
Former Juventus frontman Ravanelli made perhaps the most eye-catching debut of all the Premier League’s Italian stars after swapping Turin for Middlesbrough in a £7million move. The man known as “The White Feather” plundered a hat-trick in a thrilling 3-3 draw with Liverpool at the Riverside Stadium on the opening day of the 1996-97 season, in the process unveiling his trademark shirt-over-head celebration to a new audience.
Attilio Lombardo
Promoted Crystal Palace raised eyebrows with the £1.6million swoop for Lombardo, who had played a key role in Juventus’ Serie A title win the previous season, during the summer of 1997. Dubbed “The Bald Eagle” by Palace supporters, he made his Premier League bow on August 9 in a 2-1 victory at Everton in which he scored the opening goal and swiftly endeared himself to the Eagles faithful with an inspirational display.
Massimo Taibi
Goalkeeper Taibi’s arrival at Manchester United came amid an injury crisis following the departure of treble-winning Peter Schmeichel with Mark Bosnich and Raimond Van Der Gouw both unavailable. The £4.5m signing from Venezia endured mixed fortunes on his debut at Liverpool in September 1999, his error allowing Sami Hyypia to drag the home side back into the game before he made late saves to deny Vladimir Smicer and Robbie Fowler and secure a 3-2 victory in which Jamie Carragher scored two own goals.
Bernardo Corradi
Former Inter Milan, Lazio and Valencia striker Corradi arrived at Manchester City during the summer of 2006, but his career in England got off to a bad start and went downhill from there. He made his debut in a 3-0 defeat at Chelsea in which he was sent off for two bookable offences – and took 13 games to score the first of just three goals for the club before eventually being released with a year of his contract remaining.
Borussia Dortmund 4-0 Darmstadt: Reus stars in farewell game
Marco Reus scored and assisted in his final Bundesliga game for Borussia Dortmund as they thrashed already-relegated Darmstadt 4-0.
The German teed up Ian Maatsen for the opener on the half-hour mark before scoring a stunning free-kick eight minutes later to put Dortmund in control.
Donyell Malen scored his 13th goal of the season to round things off after substitute Julian Brandt had latched onto Jadon Sancho's ball for a third.
Dortmund could have had more as Reus, Malen and Marcel Sabitzer struck the woodwork in either half, but it did not matter as Darmstadt struggled to show a threat.
Edin Terzic's side finished fifth in the final Champions League spot, while Darmstadt are relegated as the bottom club.
Data Debrief:
Reus has been directly involved in 251 goals in the Bundesliga (156G 95A in 391 games), making him just the third player to reach 250 goals and assists since his Bundesliga debut in August 2009, behind Thomas Müller 318 and Robert Lewandowski 367.
The German bids farewell to Signal Iduna Park having scored nine goals and assisting seven in all competitions this season, though he will be hoping to add to that tally in his final match for Dortmund - the Champions League final against Real Madrid on June 1.
Chelsea edge out Man City to claim fifth straight WSL title with thumping win at Old Trafford
Mayra Ramirez turned in a stellar performance to propel Chelsea to the WSL title in Emma Hayes' final match in charge as the Blues thrashed Manchester United 6-0.
Earlier in May, Hayes – who is ending a 12-year stint in charge of the Blues to become the United States coach – had all but given up on claiming a fifth straight WSL crown.
Yet Chelsea's 8-0 victory over Bristol City two weeks ago, combined with Manchester City's defeat to Arsenal, opened the door, and after beating Tottenham in midweek, the Blues knew a win, while maintaining their positive goal difference, would be enough.
And they made sure there was no room for error with an incredible first-half display inspired by Ramirez, who scored twice and set up goals for Johanna Rytting Kaneryd and Sjoeke Nusken at Old Trafford.
Melanie Leupolz got in on the act early in the second half as Chelsea's celebrations began in earnest, with Fran Kirby netting late on to complete the rout on her farewell appearance.
Ultimately, City – likely deflated by the news coming from Old Trafford – held up their end of the bargain, but shorn of top goalscorer Khadija Shaw, Gareth Taylor's team could only beat Aston Villa 2-1.
City were constantly chasing their title rivals, with Ramirez and Rytting Kaneryd putting Chelsea 2-0 up at United inside eight minutes.
Mary Fowler nudged City ahead at Villa Park, though when Taylor's team went in at the interval, they will have seen additional goals from record signing Ramirez and Nusken had all but sewn up the title for Chelsea already.
Leupolz has scored her first WSL goal in over two years to add further gloss for Chelsea when they came back out from the restart in Manchester, and City were then hit by a further blow when Rachel Daly equalised for Villa.
Lauren Hemp, who had assisted Fowler's opener, restored City's lead, though it was never going to be enough, with Kirby's farewell goal ensuring Chelsea finished with a goal difference of 53 compared to their rivals' 46.
Chelsea are now unbeaten across their last nine WSL games that have come on the final day of the season, while the Blues are now nine WSL matches without loss against United, having won eight of those fixtures.
Hoffenheim 4-2 Bayern Munich: Tuchel bows out on defeat thanks to Kramaric hat-trick
Bayern Munich squandered a two-goal lead to slump to a 4-2 loss at Hoffenheim courtesy of a second-half Andrej Kramaric hat-trick in Thomas Tuchel's final game.
Early goals from Mathys Tel and Alphonso Davies saw the injury-depleted Bavarians go 2-0 up by the sixth minute.
Hoffenheim, however, pulled a goal back through Germany international Maximilian Beier just two minutes later, with the hosts gradually taking some of the early pace out of the game.
Bayern's injury troubles were further compounded when they lost Aleksandar Pavlovic to injury in the 35th minute, and struggled to cope with Hoffenheim's threat in the second half.
Kramaric then delivered a stunning 19-minute hat-trick with the Bayern defence in ruins, ending a disappointing season in third place with 72 points.
Bayer Leverkusen finished in top spot on 90 points. VfB Stuttgart finished runners-up on 73 with a 4-0 demolition of Borussia Moenchengladbach, while Hoffenheim finished seventh, in the Europa Conference League place.
Data Debrief:
Thomas Muller made his 473rd Bundesliga appearance for Bayern on Saturday, drawing level with Sepp Maier as the club's record appearance maker in the competition.
Bayern failed to have a single shot on target in the second half, while Kramaric ran riot to subject Bayern to their worst league finish since 2011.
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