Luca Caldirola (born 1 February 1991) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Serie A club Monza. Mainly a centre-back, he can also play as a left-back.
Caldirola started his career at Inter Milan, where he was the team captain at under-20 level (Primavera) and was occasionally called up to join the first team during the 2009–10 season, without making any appearances, however, on the pitch.[2] Caldirola also played for various youth teams in Lombardy as goalkeeper and midfielder before joined Inter[3] at the age of eight.[4] He played in a friendly match for the Inter first team in 2009.[5]
On 29 June 2010, Inter loaned out Caldirola to Dutch club Vitesse Arnhem of the Eredivisie for the entire 2010–11 season; he is the second Italian player to be part of the Arnhem club, after Marco De Marchi.[6] Inter also reduced the age limit of its Primavera team to under-19 in 2010, keeping only three players born in 1991 in the 2010–11 season as back-ups for the first team.
Half of the registration rights of Caldirola — and Luca Garritano — were sold to Cesena as part of the deal that brought defender Yuto Nagatomo to the San Siro in June 2011, after a successful loan.[7] Half of the registration rights of Caldirola was valued €2.5 million; Caldirola signed a four-year contract.[8] Both Caldirola and Garritano returned to Inter in a temporary deal for the 2011–12 season.
On 7 December 2011, Caldirola made his first team debut for Inter in a UEFA Champions League group stage match against CSKA Moscow which ended in a 2–1 loss at San Siro.[9]
On 4 January 2012, Inter confirmed that Caldirola signed a loan deal until the end of the season with the Serie B outfit Brescia.[10]
In June 2012, the co-ownership deal was renewed and Caldirola reported to Cesena in pre-season on 10 July 2012, where he played the first half of the season for the Romagna club before again being loaned to Brescia in January 2013,[11] where he finished the campaign with 15 league appearances.
In June 2013 Inter bought back Caldirola for €2.5 million, with Riccardo Melgrati and Thomas Pedrabissi moved to Cesena outright for €750,000 and €1 million respectively; Cesena also signed Yago Del Piero in co-ownership deal for €250,000, thus the deals only involves €500,000 cash to Cesena.[12]
On 26 June 2013, SV Werder Bremen confirmed the signing of Luca Caldirola from Inter on a four-year contract,[13] for a €2.5 million transfer fee.[14]
He missed most of the 2016–17 season due to injuries.[15] With his contract running out at the end of the month, he agreed to a two-year contract extension on 15 June 2017.[15]
After an envisaged transfer away from the club did not materialise in summer 2018, Caldirola trained with Werder Bremen's reserves in the first half of the 2018–19 season.[16]
On 15 July 2015, Caldirola was loaned out for a season to SV Darmstadt 98.[17]
On 30 January 2019, Caldirola joined Italian Serie B side Benevento on a free transfer, returning to Italy after five years.[18][16]
On 17 July 2021, Caldirola moved to Monza in the Serie B on a two-year contract.[19]
Caldirola has represented his native country of Italy at all youth levels, from under-16 to under-20.[20]
On 17 November 2010, he made his debut with the Italy under-21 team in a friendly match against Turkey in a 2–1 victory played in Fermo.
In 2009, he participated at the UEFA Under-19 Championship with the Italians.
In May 2011, he was called-on by Ciro Ferrara to play the games of the 2011 Toulon Tournament. Under the management of Devis Mangia, in 2012, Caldirola was named captain of the under-21 side, where he led the Azzurini in the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship.
