Benito Carbone

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Personal information
Benito Carbone
Date of birth	August 14, 1971 (age 35)
Place of birth	Bagnara Calabra, Italy
Height	1.68 m
Nickname	Benny Carbone
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Unattached
Youth clubs
1987-88	Torino
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1988-90 1990-91 1991-92 1992-93 1993-94 1994-95 1995-96 1996-99 1999 2000-01 2001-02 2002 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006	Torino Reggina Casertana Ascoli Torino Napoli Inter Sheff Wed Aston Villa Bradford Derby County Middlesbrough Como Parma Catanzaro Vicenza Sydney FC	8 (0) 31 (5) 31 (4) 28 (6) 28 (3) 29 (4) 32 (2) 96 (25) 23 (4) 42 (10) 13 (1) 13 (1) 22 (2) 19 (4) 27 (7) 28 (5) 3 (2)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of October 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Benito Carbone (born 14 August 1971 in Bagnara) is an Italian professional football player who plays as a striker.

Benito began his career in 1989 with Torino in his native Italy, and became a Journeyman for the next few years before being signed by Sheffield Wednesday in 1996 for £3 million from Internazionale. Benito became the club's highest goal scorer for the 1998-99 season scoring 9 goals.

He later played for a several other English clubs, including Aston Villa and Bradford City. He is remembered by many Aston Villa fans for his spectacular goal in the FA Cup against Leeds United. In 2002 he returned to Italy with Como and played for Parma from 2003 to 2005.

Benito received much criticism from the media throughout his time in England. Some writers and pundits accused him of being a mercenary due to Carbone moving clubs on a regular occurrence. He was, however, very popular with the fans of his clubs, particularly at Sheffield Wednesday and Bradford City where he is still regarded by some as the greatest ever player at Valley Parade. It has been noted that during his time at at Bradford City he would take part in extra training on Sundays with Ashley Ward to work on their partnership.^{[citation needed]} He also waived much of the money owed to him after he had moved to Como which helped City survive in the administration of 2002.

Benito signed for a four-game guest contract with the Australian team Sydney FC. He capped his first game against Adelaide United off with two assists and a goal. He was a potential replacement for Dwight Yorke, who was the previous marquee player at the club and after his debut many believed would be better than Yorke.^[1]

During Benito's third guest game, he pulled a hamstring muscle that ruled him out of Football for at least seven weeks, ending his short lived career with Sydney. Benito failed to reach an agreement with Sydney for a long term contract and is linked with a move to the Middle East.^[2]