Amauri Carvalho de Oliveira (born 3 June 1980), better known as Amauri, is a Brazilian footballer who plays as a striker for Serie A club Juventus. Club career Amauri was trialed at Palmeiras,[2] the club of his place of birth, São Paulo, but failed to impress. At the age of 19, he went to Santa Catarina to work[3] and played for a local club at Santa Catarina State League 2nd Division. Santa Catarina Clube was invited to 2000 Torneo di Viareggio in Italy,[1][4][3][2] at which he showed his talent to scouts; he was signed by a club from the Italian-speaking region of Switzerland, AC Bellinzona.[4][3] He scored once in 5 appearances .[3][5] After two half-seasons in the Swiss Nationalliga B, he played for Napoli in 2001, making his Italian 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 (on loan from Parma along with Matuzalém),[6] and for Messina in Serie B during the 2002-03 season[7]; he was also loaned from Parma to Empoli of Serie A in June 2002[7], but left the club, after the start of Coppa Italia 2002–03 in August, for Messina, before the start of Serie B. Chievo In mid-2003, Amauri joined Chievo in co-ownership deal. With Sergio Pellissier and Federico Cossato, he first played as a backup then a second-striker. 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 a reported €8 million plus Denis Godeas,[8] after having scored two goals in the return match of the third qualifying round against PFC Levski Sofia. Palermo did not have a good center-forward since the departure of Luca Toni in 2005 and needed to find a good partner for David Di Michele, as Andrea Caracciolo and Stephen Makinwa were not making a significant impact. 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;[9] 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 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 €22.8 million move to the Italian giants, Juve.[10] in which part of the fee was paid via player transfer (Antonio Nocerino, tagged for €7M[10] and the half of registration rights of Davide Lanzafame, tagged for €2.5M).[11] 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 Milan and Internazionale, and Juventus' English Tour, in the Emirates Cup and against Manchester United in a shocking match at Old Trafford. He will fight for a first team position along with Alessandro Del Piero, David Trezeguet, and Vincenzo Iaquinta. Towards the end of 2008, Amauri began to play more regularly under Claudio Ranieri and ended the year with 11 Serie A goals, the second highest goals for Juve. He is set to take Nedved's number 11 for the 09/10 season. International career Amauri, who has not appeared at international level for the Brazilian team, will be eligible in the future to play for the Italian national team[12] because he has lived and played in Italy for over five years, and is eligible to acquire Italian nationality by marriage. 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.[13] On 31 January 2009, Brazilian coach Dunga selected Amauri as a replacement for the injured Luís Fabiano in an international friendly against Italy.[14] However, a few hours later, in the aftermath of a Juventus league game on the same day, Juventus chairman Giovanni Cobolli Gigli stated the club's intention not to allow the player to respond to the call-up.[15] On November 2009, Amauri himself confirmed his decision to play for Italy instead of Brazil, following remarks by Italian striker Giampaolo Pazzini who was critical about the possibility of having a non-Italian born player within the azzurri squad.[16] It was however revealed later that Amauri's citizenship procedure is not expected to be approved before March 2010, thus making him unable to be featured in any of the friendly games scheduled before the selection of the Italian squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.[17]