What do U.S. males’s nationwide staff star Christian Pulisic, Inter captain Lautaro Martinez, and Serie A gamers like Jamie Vardy and Santiago Gimenez all have in widespread? His identify is Leonardo Cannavale, also referred to as Gordon Lenni, an Italian chef who lives in Milan who made his identify because of his particular bond with a number of Serie A gamers of AC Milan, Inter, Atalanta, Como, Bologna, Genoa, Parma and lots of different golf equipment in Italy. All of it started in 2024, and in lower than a yr, he discovered himself getting ready Thanksgiving dinner for AC Milan star Pulisic, a number of days after he scored the profitable purpose towards Inter within the Derby della Madonnina. 

CBS Sports activities had the prospect to sit down down with him to speak about his job and the way essential the work he does is for the Serie A gamers, because the rising match congestion and the ever-increasing variety of video games every year proceed to have an effect on gamers’ off-the-pitch routines.

“Gamers’ wholesome vitamin has change into more and more central to their bodily restoration every week, and lots of now want assist not solely on the coaching floor but additionally at residence. That is after I realized I may very well be a useful useful resource, after my years of expertise in Michelin-starred eating places in London, Barcelona, and Italy. Working alongside membership nutritionists or the gamers’ private nutritionists, we implement dietary packages for his or her weekly wants.” 

However how did he begin excited about this idea? 

“Final yr, I began with some Inter gamers like Lautaro Martinez and Matteo Darmian and fortunately they preferred the best way I used to be working and launched me to different gamers, after which additionally because of my social media accounts numerous new gamers reached out to me, asking for some meal plans, as I name them,” he stated.

The meal plans are the particular meals ready forward of time, permitting gamers to only take away them from the fridge and heat them up if wanted.

“They usually ask for all of the macros like carbohydrates, proteins and greens. Additionally, the wholesome snacks are very a lot requested like a dessert or as a mid-day snack,” he stated.

Since starting his work with Serie A gamers, the Italian chef has expanded his clientele to incorporate not solely footballers but additionally tennis gamers, basketball gamers, and different athletes, figuring out it is a rising enterprise for the longer term.

“I consider residence vitamin will change into an much more essential a part of a participant’s well being routine sooner or later. With extra video games and fewer time to relaxation, correct vitamin is more and more essential, but many gamers need to handle it themselves and wish exterior assist to eat high-quality, wholesome meals each day. More healthy life-style also can have an effect on their job and in addition stop accidents.” 

Gamers like Gimenez, Vardy, Marcus Thuram, Lautaro, Davide Frattesi and Alessandro Bastoni are all a part of the “meal plans household,” as he likes to say in his social media posts. He grew to become a degree of reference not just for the gamers but additionally for the households of the identical gamers that additionally ask him to arrange day by day meals. Just a few weeks in the past, he cooked for Pulisic and another gamers together with Atalanta’s American Yunus Musah and AC Milan gamers Fikayo Tomori and Ruben Loftus-Cheek whereas they had been watching NFL on a Sunday. 

Plenty of his work has to do with the relationships he builds each day with the gamers, and as a matter of truth most of them determined to belief him on a day by day or weekly foundation, together with Pulisic.

“He requested me to cook dinner his Thanksgiving dinner for him. I do know it is a special occasion for his household and after scoring the profitable purpose within the derby, can also be a particular week for him. All of it feels unbelievable.”

For Pulisic, he ready a traditional American Thanksgiving meal of turkey, inexperienced beans, and candy potatoes with marshmallows, however no dessert. 

In spite of everything, it could be a vacation, however a key match towards Lazio at San Siro awaits on Saturday. The pumpkin pie can wait.