Joining Arsenal in 2004, Arturo Lupoli was prematurely hailed as the next ‘big thing’. Described by Thierry Henry as a player who “will score goals in any country, in any division, on any training ground”, expectations were high for the young Italian. Unfortunately for Lupoli though, Henry’s bold claims were never matched, and at 27 he can now be found playing on loan in Hungary’s top flight.
During his first campaign with Arsenal the striker notched up 27 goals in just over 30 appearances, being the focal point in the Gunners reserve and youth sides. His performances prompted an early promotion to the first-team, and his debut came against Man.City in a 2-1 win in the League Cup. In the next round he netted his first goals for the club, scoring a brace in a 3-1 win over Everton. Despite early promise, Lupoli was only given two more senior appearances in the 04/05 season, the first coming against Man.United in the next round of the League Cup and the last in a FA Cup Fifth-round replay versus Sheffield United.
During the following season Lupoli was again prolific for the reserve and youth sides, forging an excellent partnership with Nicklas Bendtner. His third and final Arsenal first-team goal came against Reading in a 3-0 League Cup win, and his singular Premiership appearance also arrived, in a 1-0 loss to Blackburn Rovers.
In the final year of his Arsenal contract Lupoli was loaned to Championship side Derby County, and helped them on their way to promotion. He netted 7 times in 35 league appearances. During his loan spell he agreed a pre-contract agreement with Fiorentina, and left to join them at the end of the season on a five-year deal.
This was seen as the deal to take Lupoli’s career to the next level, but he never made an appearance for the Viola. During his three years with the club he was loaned to Treviso, Norwich and Sheffield United. In all he struggled to gain consistency, scoring only 7 league goals over his three loan spells. After his dismal time in Florence, Lupoli joined Serie B side Ascoli in 2009.
To date this was probably the most successful period of his career, and after a two-year period he’d scored just over 10 goals in 60 appearances. In 2011 he joined fellow Serie B side Grosseto, before making the move to Varese in 2013. Currently, Lupoli finds himself on loan in Hungary, playing for Budapest Honvéd.
After such a promising start to his career, Lupoli didn’t quite manage to live up to expectations. With the talent he has though, there is still plenty of time for him to have an impact in European football.