Most third-choice goalkeepers are anonymous by design. Their job is to train hard, stay ready and almost never play. Raffaele Di Gennaro fits that description at Inter Milan, and yet his is one of the better stories in Serie A, because the shirt he barely gets to wear is the one he wanted as a nine-year-old in Saronno.
He turns 33 on 3 October 2026. That is a good moment to look at how he got here: an academy title, a decade on the road through Serie B and Serie C, and a free transfer back to the club he grew up supporting.
The Numbers on File
| Full name | Raffaele Di Gennaro |
|---|---|
| Born | 3 October 1993, Saronno, Lombardy, Italy |
| Age | 32 (33 from 3 October 2026) |
| Nationality | Italian (capped at under-16 and under-20 level) |
| Height | 1.88 m (about 6 ft 2 in) |
| Position | Goalkeeper, right-footed |
| Club (2025/26) | Inter Milan, shirt number 12 |
| Contract | Extended on 3 July 2025, running to 30 June 2026 |
| Agency | Branchini Associati |
| Estimated net worth | 2.5 million to 5 million euros (Icon Polls estimate) |
A House Full of Strikers
Inter's own club profile tells the detail that makes him easy to like. His father played as an attacker. So did his brother. Raffaele went the other way and wanted to stop goals rather than score them.
He started at five with Prealpi, a small team run by the local parish in Saronno, a town just outside Milan. Inter spotted him at a youth tournament in 2002, when he was nine. From then on his football life was tied to the Nerazzurri.
Growing up around forwards probably gave him a feel for how strikers think. The decision to stand between the posts, though, was entirely his.
Ajax, a Penalty and a Primavera Double
He spent eleven years in Inter's youth sector, and they weren't smooth ones. Injuries cost him half of the 2010/11 season and half of 2011/12. Then came 2012, the high point of his academy years.
As first-choice keeper for the Primavera, he helped Inter win both the Campionato Nazionale Primavera and the NextGen Series, the European youth competition of the time. In the NextGen final against Ajax he saved a crucial penalty. For a while it looked like the start of something big.
Seven Clubs in Ten Years
It wasn't, at least not quickly. Plenty of academy keepers find the path to Inter's first team blocked, and in 2013 Di Gennaro started a long tour of the lower leagues:
- Cittadella (loan, 2013)
- Latina (loan, 2014 to 2016)
- Ternana (loan, 2016)
- Spezia (loan, 2017)
- Catanzaro (permanent, 2019)
- Pescara (2021)
- Gubbio (2022)
The Serie B loans were meant to give him senior minutes, and they did. The permanent moves that followed were modest deals of the kind Serie C clubs make every summer. None of them made headlines.
Gubbio is where things changed. In Serie C he kept 20 clean sheets in 34 league games and was recognised as the best goalkeeper in his group. A season like that gets noticed, and it opened the door back to Milan.
The Free Transfer Home
In the summer of 2023 Inter brought him back on a free. On paper it was a squad signing: an experienced Italian keeper to fill out the goalkeeping group and meet the homegrown quotas. For the player, it meant much more than that.
His timing was excellent. In 2023/24 Inter won the Supercoppa Italiana and then the Scudetto, their 20th league title and the one that earned the club its second star. On the final matchday of that season he made his Serie A debut against Hellas Verona. He had waited more than twenty years since joining the academy for that one game.
Since then his role has been clear. During 2025/26 he sat behind Yann Sommer and Josep Martinez, which makes him the third-choice keeper. That isn't a slight. Clubs chasing several trophies need a reliable third goalkeeper who knows the club, accepts the role and keeps the training sessions sharp.
What a Number 12 Earns
His Inter wage is reported at roughly 5,000 pounds per week. That is small by the standards of a title-winning Serie A squad and reflects his place in the pecking order. Inter has not published an official figure.
Icon Polls estimates his net worth at between 2.5 million and 5 million euros. That range is our own estimate, not an official number. It covers more than a decade of Serie B and Serie C wages, his current Inter contract, and likely bonuses from the 2023/24 Scudetto and Supercoppa. The band is wide because lower-division salaries are rarely disclosed.
He was never going to get rich the way a first-choice keeper at a big club does. His career has been built on lasting a long time, not on big pay packets.
June 2026, and After
The extension he signed on 3 July 2025 ran until 30 June 2026. That date has now passed. We haven't confirmed his situation since then, so we won't guess. Inter's official squad list is the place to check.
The case for keeping him is the same as before. He's homegrown, he knows the dressing room, and he plainly wants to be there. Those qualities matter more for a third-choice keeper than a few points of reflex speed.
Off the Pitch
He keeps his private life private. No wife or partner has been publicly confirmed, and he doesn't appear to want the attention. What he does share publicly is about football: Saronno, his family of forwards, and Inter.
Where would you put the great goalkeepers when it comes to football's very best? Have your say in our vote on the best football players of all time.
Short Answers
Has Raffaele Di Gennaro played in Serie A?
Yes. He made his Serie A debut for Inter against Hellas Verona on the final matchday of 2023/24, the season Inter won the Scudetto.
What was his best season?
Probably his season at Gubbio in Serie C: 20 clean sheets in 34 league games, and recognition as the best goalkeeper in his group.
Why does he wear number 12?
Number 12 is traditionally given to a backup goalkeeper in Italy, and it suits his role at Inter.
