Rey Aldo Manaj (; born 24 February 1997) is an Albanian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Süper Lig club Sivasspor and the Albania national team.
Club career
Early career
Manaj was born in Lushnjë, Albania in 1997, and moved to Italy with his parents at a young age, where he began his football youth career at the age of 11 with Piacenza. Principally he had two trials at two major academies at Italy Milan and Atalanta but didn't managed to pass at either one. When he was 11 years old in 2008 he managed to enter at Piacenza academies where he achieved a few trophies and individual ratings. In 2012 this academy managed by Leonardo Garilli family was declared bankrupt in 2012 and Manaj moved to U.S. Cremonese managed by Gigi Simoni.
In 2013, Cremonese loaned him to Sampdoria youths which was managed at the time by Pedone. During a training game against the first team, as soon as Manaj saw that the goalkeeper Júnior da Costa went wide, he tried to catch him by surprise with a shot from the middle of the field. The shot finished wide, but close to the goal. Pedone told Manaj "If you do this the next time I will replace you!" A few weeks later, when Genovese team faced Siena primavera, Manaj made the same effort, but this time the ball ended straight into the net. Recalling what happened in training match against the first team Sampdoria, Manaj addressed the technician Pedone saying: "Coach, so is this good?" He managed to play some games with the "Primavera" (U-19) of coach Enrico Chiesa.
Sampdoria could have purchased Manaj definitively as it was part of the loan deal with right clauses for purchase of €300,000 fee after the loan ended on 30 June 2015 but Sampdoria had a club change in ownership with Massimo Ferrero replacing former president Riccardo Garrone's family, and the purchase option expired. When Sampdoria was presented again at the table of Cremonese after 30 June, the demand of Cremonese's president, Luigi Simoni, was €700,000 for co-ownership with many other provisions and Sampdoria refused to pay that amount.
Cremonese
Manaj made his Cremonese debut on 7 September 2014 at the age of 17, featuring in the last 14 minutes of the 1–2 away win against Mantova. He later played his first match as a starter in a 1–0 away lose against Pordenone. Manaj scored his first professional goal on 11 October during the 1–1 draw against Alessandria Calcio, became the youngest player to score a goal in this category at the age of 17 years and 7 months.
Inter Milan
After many speculations about his future which related him with teams like Juventus, Atlético Madrid, Roma, on 14 July 2015 Manaj was sold to Inter Milan for a fee of €1 million and he signed a five-year contract. Also in return, Inter loaned Cremonese two players Fabio Eguelfi and Francesco Forte as a part of the operation for Manaj's transfer to Inter. Principally Manaj was included to training in the first team by the coach Roberto Mancini. He showed an impressive form, scoring two goals in two consecutive mini-preparatory matches between Inter.
2015–16 season
Manaj debuted for Inter as a substitute in place of Jeison Murillo in a friendly match against Athletic Bilbao on 6 August 2015 won by Inter 2–0. He made his Serie A debut on 23 August 2015 in team's opening match of 2015–16 season, replacing Brozović in the 85th minute of the 1–0 home win against Atalanta. On 15 December, Manaj started for the first time during the Coppa Italia encounter against Cagliari, playing full-90 minutes and providing the assist of the first goal scored by Palacio in an eventual 3–0 win.
On 2 March 2016, in the returning leg of Coppa Italia's semi-final against Juventus at San Siro, Manaj entered during the extra time as the match subsequently went into the penalty shootouts; he scored his penalty shootout attempt, but Inter lost 3–5 and eventually was eliminated from the competition. He finished his first season with Inter by making six appearances between league and cup, as he meanwhile contributed in the reserve team's success in Coppa Italia Primavera. On 24 June 2016, Inter and Cremonese reached the deal to terminate the co-ownership for another €500,000, making Inter the sole employer of Manaj in the football field.
Loan to Pescara
On 11 July 2016, Manaj was sent on loan at fellow Serie A side Pescara along with Cristiano Biraghi as part of the transfer of Gianluca Caprari to Inter in 2017. He was presented on the same, where he has handed the squad number 9, quoting: "I want to show all my qualities".