Antonio Mirante el flecheiro

Juventus and loans

After starting his professional career with Juventus, Mirante was loaned to Crotone in 2004, along with Giovanni Bartolucci, Tomas Guzman, Abdoulay Konko, Matteo Paro and Daniele Gastaldello. In 2005, he was loaned to Siena with Nicola Legrottaglie, Igor Tudor, Paro, Gastaldello, Douglas Ricardo Packer, Cristian Molinaro, Luca Cacciotto and Rej Volpato. He returned to Juventus in 2006 due to the club's relegation to Serie B following their involvement in the 2006 Calciopoli Scandal; he was capped for the first time when first choice goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon was red carded in the 24th minute against AlbinoLeffe, on 18 November 2006. Juventus won the 2006–07 Serie B title and obtained promotion to 2007–08 Serie A. However, he was transferred to the Italian Serie A club Sampdoria on a one-year loan deal for the 2007–08 season on 3 July 2007.

Sampdoria

In the first season with Sampdoria, Mirante was an understudy of Luca Castellazzi. Nevertheless, at the end of the loan in June 2008, the club bought half of the registration rights of Mirante from Juventus for €1.5 million transfer fee. In the second season, Mirante was still served as the understudy of Castellazzi; the co-ownership of Mirante between Juventus and Sampdoria was renewed in June 2009.

Parma

On 19 July 2009, he went on loan to Parma in exchange for defender Marco Rossi, both on temporary deals. In June 2010, Sampdoria decided not to buy Rossi but sold Mirante to…

Mirante was a member of Italy U-21 team in 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, as an unused substitute. He has not made his debut for Italy at U-20 or U-21 level, despite having been called up a total of six times; similarly, he has yet to make his senior debut with Italy, despite having received ten call-ups. On 8 August 2010, he received his first senior international call-up under manager Cesare Prandelli, to replace the injured Federico Marchetti. Mirante was not included in Prandelli's final 23-man Italy squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup; however, he was one of the two Italian reserve players alongside Andrea Ranocchia who was kept on the standby list prior to the start of the competition, as a precaution, in case of injury to any of the squad's final players, following an injury scare to back-up goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu. Under Antonio Conte, Mirante was called up to the national team for a training camp on 16 May 2016, ahead of the upcoming European Championships; however, later that month, he was not included in the manager's definitive 23-player squad for the final tournament. In May 2019, he was called up by Roberto Mancini for Italy's European qualifiers against Greece and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Regarded as one of the most promising Italian goalkeepers of his generation in his youth, Mirante was an experienced shot-stopper, who was known for his athleticism, reflexes, positioning, and goalkeeping technique, as well as his ability to save penalties; with 11 stops, he saved the 13th–highest number of penalties in Serie A history. A tall goalkeeper, with a large frame and a slender build, he also stood out for his aerial game and ability on high balls, while he was less effective at rushing off his line and getting to ground quickly to clear the ball away or deal with low balls and shots; as such, he was not particularly suited to playing as a sweeper-keeper. Due to his calm composure in goal and reserved character, Mirante's leadership and ability to organise his defence also came into question at times in the media. In addition to his goalkeeping ability, he was also comfortable with the ball at his feet.

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