Italy
The Italian Assassin
Alessio hails from the east of Italy and came through the academy of Ancona Calcio, who at that time plied their trade in Serie B.
He turned professional at the age of 18 for Fano Calcio. Whilst not making a competitive league appearance, Alessio did play in cup competitions for Fano.
After leaving Fano, Sassini played semi-professionally in the Eccellenza (Italian lower leagues) before moving to the United Kingdom. Whilst studying and working in England, Alessandro continued his football career semi-professionally. He represented Wembley FC at Step 5 in the English pyramid (9 under the Premier League!) and later Sporting Hackney.
The Italian had briefly trained with the Dragoons in previous times before leaving Kraków for Warsaw due to work purposes. Whilst in Poland’s capital city, the attacker played two seasons at Klasa A level for City Wilanów.
In terms of playing style, Alessio is a modern number 9. With plenty of pace to burn, he likes to attack the space behind defenders. He also is adept at holding the ball up and has the play-making vision to link his fellow attackers into the game.
Following his debut for Sporting Hackney in 2019, the opponents match report showered Puerini with praise. They described the Italian as a “mercurial presence”, “talented” and having an “air of Dimitar Berbatov about him”.
Sassini made an excellent start to life in a Dragoons shirt, grabbing a glorious hat-trick on his debut against Wanda in the 2022/23 season.
#FunFact
When Alessio was 6 years old, he cut his tongue in half. Whilst playing, he fell down the stairs wearing his mum’s heels, rolling down like a snowball. In the process, his teeth cut a piece of his tongue. Apparently, there’s nothing you can do about it and it just regrows. Alessio can assure you, that his tongue is fine and now normal-sized!
