'The White Feather' Fabrizio Ravanelli became a Boro legend during his short tenure on Teesside, etching his name in Premier League and Boro history
Born in Perugia Italy on December 11th 1968, Ravanelli started his career off at hometown club Perugia Calcio in 1986, where he remained until 1989. During his three year tenure at Perugia, Ravanelli made 90 appearances and scored 41 times.
On July 1st 1989, Ravanelli moved to Avellino on a free transfer, he only went on to spend six months at Avellino, in which he made seven appearances, failing to score in any of them.
Only six months after joining Avellino, Ravanelli joined Casertana on January 1st 1990 on loan for the remainder of the season. During his six months at the club, he made 27 appearances, scoring 12 goals.
In the summer of 1990, Ravanelli made the switch to Reggiana on a free transfer. Over his two seasons at Reggiana, making 66 appearances, scoring 24 times.
After his successful two seasons at Reggiana, Ravanelli made a huge move to Turin to join Juventus, who in the previous season finished 2nd, only behind the invincible AC Milan. During his time in Turin, Ravanelli was dubbed 'The White Feather' referring to his predominant white hair.
Due to competition from several other strikers, Ravanelli initially struggling to obtain a starting spot under Juventus manager Giovanni Trapattoni but eventually, Ravanelli managed to break into the starting line-up during the 1994/95 season, under Marcello Lippi. 'The White Feather' played a key role in the clubs domestic double.
With Juventus, Ravanelli won one UEFA Cup in the 1992/93 season, one Italian Cup in the 1994/95 season, the 1994/95 Sere A title, one Italian Super Cup in 1995/96 and the 1995/96 Champions League.
Ravanelli scored the opening goal in the Champions League final to put Juventus 1-0 against Ajax, the game eventually ended 1-1, with Juventus winning on penalties.
During his time in Turin, 'The White Feather' made 159 appearances, scoring 69 goals.
During the summer of 1996, Middlesbrough registered their interest in Ravanelli, a move which at the time seemed ridiculous.
Boro then offered a sizeable £7 million for Ravanelli, the best offer on the table for his services from a Juventus perspective.
When summoned to a meeting, Ravanelli expected to be handed the captain's armband following the departure of Gianluca Vialli, but instead he was told to talk with Boro manager Bryan Robson to discuss personal terms for a potential move.
Unbeknown to Ravanelli, discussions between the clubs had started as early as February, four months earlier.
In an attempt to scupper any potential deal, 'The White Feather' ordered his agent to ask for a ridiculous £42,000-per-week (Equivalent to £80,625.50 today) - in an attempt to attempt to cause Boro to walk away from negotiations. At the time, Ravanelli was on the equivalent of £7,000-per-week at Juventus, six time less then the wage he requested from Boro.
Despite Ravanelli's hope of Boro walking away, Steve Gibson accepted his wage request, potentially making him the highest payed player in The Premier League.
On July 1st 1996, Boro announced the signing of Champions League winner Fabrizio Ravanelli for a reported fee of £7 million.
Ravanelli made history on his Boro debut in a 3-3 draw with Liverpool when he became the only player in Premier League history to score a hattrick on his debut, a record which still stands today.
In the 1996/97 season, Boro reached both domestic cup finals. Ravanelli scored the first goal in Boro's 1-1 draw with Leicester City, but they lost 1-0 in the replay at Hillsborough. Two months later, Boro lost to Chelsea in the FA Cup final 2-0. As a result of which, they made history in being the only team to reach both major cup finals whilst also being relegated.
During the 1996/97 season, Ravanelli finished above the likes of Dennis Bergkamp and Matt Le Tissier to finish sixth place in the leagues goal scoring charts, with 16 goals. In all competitions, the Italian hitman made 48 appearances, scoring 31 times. A world class record, especially when considering Boro's relegation, and it was his debut season in English football.
As previously mentioned, the Italians goals were not enough to help Boro survive the drop, as a three points deduction for failure to complete their away fixture against Blackburn Rovers of the season seen Boro finish 19th.
The deduction was subsequent to Boro's refusal to complete their December fixture against Blackburn Rovers. The club's officials insisted that manager Bryan Robson had been unable to field a team due to a severe injury and illness crisis among his players. Despite this, the Football Association still went ahead in docking the club three points, which ultimately relegated Boro.
Had Boro of played the fixture, it would've been impossible for them to be relegated come the end of the season, even had they lost. That of course was not the case and Boro were eventually relegated from the Premier League.
In a letter to the FA, Steve Gibson told of the estimated £528,575 loos due to the loss in ladder system payment, and a £7.5 million forecast revenue loss due to relegation.
After their relegation, Ravanelli played two games for Boro in Division One, scoring once in a 2-1 win against Charlton Athletic, scoring a last minute winner.
Desperate to leave Boro, Ravanelli became a victim of his own greed. Everton were prepared to pay the asking price Boro wanted and meet his huge £50,000-per-week wage demands, however, negotiations fell down when the Italian requested numerous other add-ons including regular flights to Italy and, bizarrely, that Everton would pay his gas bill.
After being demoted to the Boro reserves, and falling out of contention for Italy, 'The White Feather' departed in ignominy to Marseille for a reported fee of £6.6 million, on a contract worth half of what Everton were prepared to pay him.
Ravanelli retired in 2005 playing for his home town of Perugia. He ended his career with 22 Italian caps, scoring 8 times. Ravanelli made 626 appearances at club level, scoring 247 times.
Even despite the sour ending, Fabrizio Ravanelli's short spell at Boro will go down in history and remain in the hearts of Boro fans for many years to come.
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