Manuel Locatelli Cavaliere OMRI (born 8 January 1998) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Serie A club Juventus, whom he also captains, and the Italy national team.

After coming through the club's youth system, Locatelli made his professional debut with AC Milan, helping them win the 2016 Supercoppa Italiana.

[5][6][7][8] Locatelli received his first ever call-up to Milan's senior team ahead of the away game against Udinese played on 22 September 2015; he, however, remained an unused substitute.

[12] On 2 October 2016, after coming on as a substitute for captain Riccardo Montolivo, Locatelli scored his first Serie A goal with his first ever shot, in a dramatic 4–3 win over Sassuolo.

[13] On 22 October, Locatelli scored with his second ever Serie A shot on target, the only goal in a rival match against Juventus, a strike with the outside of his right foot that hit the underside of the crossbar, and rifled past keeper Gianluigi Buffon.

[17] However, Montolivo's eventual recovery combined with the arrival of Lucas Biglia and frequent changes of formation under Vincenzo Montella started to limit his playing time.

In November 2017, Montella was dismissed and replaced by Gennaro Gattuso who also viewed Locatelli as more of a backup for either Biglia or Montolivo than a starting lineup player.

Locatelli agreed to depart yet submitted a full transfer request, later citing a perceived lack of trust in him from the club as the main reason for his decision.

[34] Locatelli debuted with the Italian senior squad on 7 September 2020, playing as a starter in a 1–0 UEFA Nations League victory against the Netherlands in Amsterdam.

While not particularly fast, he is an elegant and quick-thinking player, who possesses excellent vision, passing, ball control, technique, and dribbling skills, as well as a powerful and accurate shot from long range.

His playing style has been compared to that of Argentine midfielder Fernando Redondo, but with more of an offensive mindset, due to his ability to make late attacking runs off the ball from behind; he has also been likened to other playmakers such as Xavi, Zinedine Zidane, and Demetrio Albertini.