in 2007
Early career Born in
Pescia, Pazzini started his career at
Atalanta, with whom he made his professional debut in 2003, and quickly emerging as a promising youngster. He spent two seasons with Atalanta, playing 51 league games and scoring 12 goals (of which 3 of them at
Serie A level). He switched from a left back to a striker.
Fiorentina Pazzini joined
Fiorentina from
Atalanta for around €6 million in January 2005. During his
first season, he scored ten goals in four appearances. but did not find space in
Cesare Prandelli's plans as the latter preferred
Luca Toni as the main striker, with Pazzini and
Valeri Bojinov acting as second strikers. With the arrival of former
Milan striker
Alberto Gilardino, Prandelli opted for
Adrian Mutu and Gilardino to form a striking partnership, reducing Pazzini to a backup role.
Sampdoria in 2009 As a result of limited first team opportunities, Pazzini agreed a move to
Sampdoria in January 2008 for a €9 million transfer fee. After his first match, against
Palermo, in the next matchday Pazzini found the back of the net for the first time with the
blucerchiati against
Udinese in the
Coppa Italia. He scored his first goal in Serie A with his new team on 1 February 2009 in the match against
Chievo, which finished in a 1–1 draw. His rejuvenated form continued when he hit his first brace with Sampdoria in a 3–0 hammering against Italian champions
Internazionale in the
Coppa Italia, and his second consecutive brace arrived in the Serie A encounter against
Roma (2–2). He combined well with
Antonio Cassano up front, forming arguably one of the most effective partnerships of the season in Serie A, and drawing comparisons with Sampdoria's former
Gianluca Vialli and
Roberto Mancini strike-pairing of the late 1980s and early 1990s. At the time, Pazzini was considered the best Italian striker. On 26 September, he scores the winner-goal in a match against
Inter. Winning this game, Sampdoria can lead the table for the first time since 1991. Pazzini scored a brace on his debut, a 3–2 home win over Palermo, and scored another goal in his second game against
Bari. He also scored the winner in a 1–2 win against Fiorentina on 16 February 2011. On 30 April 2011, he scored 2 in a 2–1 win over
Cesena, both in stoppage time. On 22 May 2011, he scored a further two goals in Inter's 3–1 victory over
Catania. Pazzini began the
2011–12 season on a weak note, failing to score until the fifth matchday in a 3–1 victory over
Bologna. He then scored in the next match after a dribble from teammate
Yuto Nagatomo in a 3–2 away victory against
CSKA Moscow. He later suffered a three-month goal drought until he scored Inter's opener in a 2–0 victory against Fiorentina. Pazzini also added another goal later that month against
Lecce and scored in Inter's opening match of the 2012 calendar year in a 5–0 victory against
Parma. Owing partially to the excellent form of his teammate
Diego Milito and partially due to a lack of consistency in managerial preferences and squad selection, Pazzini made a majority of his appearances for Inter during the 2011–12 season as a substitute off the bench. As such, Pazzini was only able to score five goals in Serie A for the season and was often frustrated in front of goal in European competition as well.
AC Milan After being transfer listed by the
Nerazzurri, Pazzini joined AC Milan on 22 August 2012, in exchange for Antonio Cassano and a €7.5 million compensation in favour of the
Nerazzurri. (Pazzini tagged for €13 million and Cassano for €5.5 million.) On 24 August 2012, Pazzini told
La Gazzetta dello Sport of what occurred at Inter: "I dream about being a deciding factor in a derby and in many other matches. I could say some things but the row would go on for days and I just don't feel like it. The night before the summer training camp I had a phone call telling me I was out of the team," he revealed, "and the following day I was told: 'You won't be playing in any of the friendlies', but it wasn't
Stramaccioni. I was getting bad vibes, but now I'm looking to the future." I'm really motivated because I'm coming out of a negative year," explained Pazzini. "I really want to get things together and get back to being the player I was five months ago, at international level too. I dream of getting a call from
Prandelli." Regarding the swap that brought Cassano to Inter, Pazzini stated, "Antonio and I have been friends since our days at Sampdoria. When I read about this deal on the front page of a paper I called him and joked: 'See, these days you need me to get your name onto the front page...' But during the training camp at Inter, it was Pazzini who announced his imminent departure to the fans. "It wasn't an outburst of any kind, I was calm and cool. I made a few statements," he explained, "because I already knew all about it. I read that I had been thrown out of the squad after that statement, but it isn't true. I had already made up my mind, and that statement was spontaneous. I hadn't been expecting it, but they made the decision and I accepted it. AC Milan are the best and I can hold my head up high." On 1 September, on his second appearance but first full-debut, Pazzini netted a hat-trick in Milan's 3–1 victory over Bologna, with his style of play drawing comparisons with Milan legend
Filippo Inzaghi, who had retired a couple of months earlier. On 3 November 2012, Pazzini ended his eight-game goal drought when he scored the final goal in stoppage time in Milan's impressive 5–1 win over Chievo. It was the first time Pazzini had found the back of the net since his
hat-trick back in September. On 2 March 2013, Pazzini scored two important goals in a win over
Lazio, which put Milan third in the Serie A table, overtaking Lazio. On 28 April, he came off the bench and scored another quick fire double to take his tally to 15 in Serie A and help Milan leapfrog Fiorentina into third in Milan's 4–2 win over Catania. Pazzini ended his first season at Milan with 15 Serie A goals in 30 appearances and a further one goal in two appearances in the
2012–13 Coppa Italia. On 24 May 2015, Pazzini scored his
100th Serie A goal in a 3–0 home win over
Torino.
Verona Upon the expiration of his Milan contract in the summer of 2015, Pazzini moved on a free transfer to
Hellas Verona, his sixth professional club. He scored his first goal, a penalty, in a 1–1 draw against
Udinese on 18 October. He made his debut on 3 February 2018, coming off the bench in the 77th minute and scored the equalizer in a 2–2 draw against
Real Madrid. On 15 December 2019, at the age of 35, Pazzini scored his first goal in Serie A since 30 October 2017, from the penalty spot, which helped his team to come back from behind and achieve a 3–3 home draw against
Torino. He scored also against
SPAL,
Lecce and
Juventus. ==International career==