Adriano

Birth Date: February 17 1982
Birth Place: Rio De Janeiro
Birth Nation: Brazil
Height: 189cm
Weight: 87kg
Nationality: Brazilian
Position: ForwardFull Name: Leite Ribeiro Adriano

Adriano joined Flamengo at the age of 7 and until he was 15 he played as defender for the youth teams. He was then moved forward, initially to midfield but then up front.

In 1999 Adriano helped Brazil to victory in the World Under 17 Championship in New Zealand however he failed to score.

He had a good 2000 campaign with Flamengo and notched up seven goals in the league, including one five minutes into his debut (he also set up three goals for his team-mates in the match which Flamengo won 5-2 vs Sao Paolo), and one in the Mercosur Cup where Flamengo were knocked out by River Plate in the quarter-finals.

In November 2000 Adriano made his International debut for Brazil in a World Cup qualifier against Columbia. This was Emerson Leao's first match in charge of the Brazil national team.

In 2001 he became a regular for Flamengo, scoring 10 goals and starring at the South American U20s Championships in Ecuador, scoring 6 goals and finishing as top scorer. He also scored 6 goals at the World Youth Championship as Brazil went out at the quarter-finals stage to Ghana.

Adriano moved to Inter Milan 11th August 2001 as part of a three way deal where Marcos Vampeta moved to Flamengo and Reinaldo moved to Paris St-Germain. The deal was complicated due to PSG part-owning Vampeta. Inter also paid 5 million Euros for the youngster.

In January 2002, the Brazilian youngster was sent on loan to Fiorentina after failing to hold down a place in Inter's first team line-up. While there he scored 6 goals in 13 appearances. Parma then got Adriano from Inter in June 2002, for 12.5 million Euros - but in a co-ownership deal that saw him play for the club but leaving Inter with future options on the player. He went on to score 15 league goals that season for Parma.

The following season he scored 8 goals in the first 9 games while Inter struggled and sacked manager hector Cuper. They decided to bring him back to the club by buying out Parma's half of his contract for 29 million Euros (thus giving him a value of 58 million Euros!!) in the January transfer window.

He immediately made an impact scoring 2 goals in his first start back at the club in a 4-0 victory over Siena. Inter finished the season in 4th (and a Champions League qualification spot) partly due to his 9 goals in 16 Serie A games.

The close season saw him in Peru helping Brazil to win the Copa America and winning himself the Player of the Tournament award and finishing as top scorer with 6 goals.

The death of his father and a number of niggling injuries effected him the following season but he still managed to score goals and help Inter to a Coppa Italia win. The close season saw him win the Confederations Cup with Brazil, where he again was named Player of the Tournament and won the Golden Boot for being top scorer.

Adriano is contracted to Inter until 2010 but that hasn't stopped rumours linking him with Chelsea and Real Madrid.

Adriano