- Source: Tomi Montefiori
Carlos Thomas Gómez Montefiori (born 6 February 2003), commonly known as Tomi Montefiori, and in England as Tommy Montefiori, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for Brazilian side Juventude.
Early life
Born in Merlo in the Buenos Aires Province of Argentina, Montefiori would accompany his mother to her football matches at the Estadio Monumental, where she played for River Plate Women.
Club career
= Early career
=Montefiori's first club was San Antonio in San Antonio de Padua, where he played at the age of three. While watching one of his mother's matches, he was approached by River Plate youth coach, Luis Pereyra, who invited him to train with the club's youth team. As he was not yet old enough to be registered, his career with the club began in futsal.
He went on to spend the next eight years with River Plate - bar a year-long loan spell with Argentinos Juniors at the age of nine - before trialling at Racing Club de Avellaneda at the age of twelve. Despite successfully joining the Racing academy at the age of fourteen, he only played a total of fifteen minutes in his first season, claiming that his coaches asked him to make more sacrifices in order to play, and left the club at the end of the year.
He was offered the chance to trial with Italian side AC Milan by his former futsal coach, Diego Guacci, and applied for Italian citizenship due to his Italian heritage. Having travelled to Italy, he successfully trialled with Milan, and spent two weeks training with the team before playing in a youth game against Torino, who invited him to sign a pre-contract with the club. However, due to issues with his citizenship - being unable to attain an Italian passport - the deal was cancelled, and he returned to Argentina, joining All Boys in 2018.
= Move to England
=Montefiori would again try his luck in Europe, this time moving to England, joining Crewe Alexandra in October 2019. However, after two months, including training with the first team, the club decided against signing him, as they would have to pay a compensation fee to do so, because Montefiori had moved to England before turning eighteen. Such was his ability, then-manager David Artell reportedly told Montefiori: "if you had the passport, tomorrow I would give you 20 minutes against Aston Villa".
Having trialled in Portugal, and after a short spell in Brazil with Monte Azul, Montefiori returned to England, initially struggling to find a club due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He was offered the chance to re-join Crewe Alexandra, but as there were still issues with his passport, he was loaned to Northern Premier League side Nantwich Town in March 2021, with then-manager Dave Cooke stating that Montefiori was "one of the most exciting young prospects [he has] come across in a very long time". His career with Nantwich Town started well; having impressed in pre-season, he scored on his first competitive appearance - a 3–2 win over Stalybridge Celtic. Despite a promising first season in English football, Montefiori once again faced issues with his residency, and left England at the conclusion of the 2021–22 season, despite interest from Championship side Preston North End.
= Move to Brazil
=In May 2022, having left England, Montefiori went on trial with Brazilian side Grêmio, before signing for the club's under-23 side the following month. However, after just two months with the club, his contract was terminated in August, with Grêmio reportedly worried they would have to pay training compensation. Immediately following his departure from Grêmio, he signed a deal with Guarany until December 2022, to help the team compete in the Copa FGF. Following one game for Guarany, a 5–1 Copa FGF win against Onze Horas, he joined Série B side Juventude on loan in November, ahead of the 2023 season.
Career statistics
= Club
=As of 22 October 2023.
Notes
