Michele De Nadai was born in Milan on September 8, 1954. He started his career playing in the youth teams of Milan and in 1973 was sent to Lecco in Serie C to gain experience. He stayed there two years before going back to Milan. He was part of the squad for the entire 1975-76 season but had very little playing time. He did however make his Serie A debut against Cesena on May 2, 1976 and scored the winning goal. He played another four times in Coppa Italia.
In 1976-77 he was sold to Monza in Serie B. The team did very well, just missing out on promotion. A year later he signed for Roma. He stayed with the Giallorossi for four years with 99 appearances and 3 goals. He won the Coppa Italia twice (1979-80 and 1980-81) but in his last year he played a lot less (12) so come 1981-82 it was time for a change.
Lazio had terrible financial problems so Roma President Dino Viola, probably because he was interested in signing Bruno Giordano and Lionello Manfredonia, came to help. De Nadai signed for the Biancocelesti and Carlo Perrone went the other way.
1981-82 was not a good season for Lazio, but De Nadai was one of the positives, appearing in 37 games with five goals. With the return of Giordano and Manfredonia, Lazio were very optimistic for 1982-83 and in the first half the Biancocelesti did very well. But in the second half of the season they went into psychological and playing difficulty. This cost manager Roberto Clagluna his job and he was replaced by Giancarlo Morrone. In the last four games Lazio won two and drew two and secured promotion after three years. Unfortunately De Nadai missed most of the second part of the season due to a serious knee injury in the game at Monza in February.
In 1983 he signed for Pistoiese in Serie B. The last two years of his career he played at Salerno in Serie C1.
Once he stopped playing he tried a managerial career and was head coach for Latina in 1987-88 and Ostia Mare 1990-91. After this experience he retired from football.
Michele De Nadai gave a good contribution in his stay at Lazio and it was a pity he could not contribute more in his second year. He appeared in 57 games (48 in Serie B and 9 in Coppa Italia) with seven goals (5 in Serie B and 2 in Coppa Italia).
Lazio Career
Season | Total appearances (goals) | Serie B | Coppa Italia |
1981-82 | 37 (5) | 33 (4) | 4 (1) |
1982-83 | 20 (2) | 15 (1) | 5 (1) |
Total | 57 (7) | 48 (5) | 9 (2) |
Sources