12 May 2007, in the Serie B match against Bologna; he came on as a substitute in place of Raffaele Palladino, and marked his first appearance with an assist for David Trezeguet's tap-in. Since then, he had been tipped to be Alessandro Del Piero's heir in the creative number 10 role behind the main striker, known as the trequartista, rifinitore, or fantasista, in Italian. Juventus won the Serie B title that season, earning promotion to Serie A the following season. Loan to Empoli On 4 July 2007, Giovinco was loaned out to Empoli. He made his Serie A debut on 26 August, coming on as a substitute against Fiorentina. Giovinco scored his first Serie A goal on 30 September against Palermo in a 3–1 win. He made his European debut in the UEFA Cup on 4 October against Zürich. Giovinco finished his first season in Serie A with 6 goals in 35 appearances, and was given the Leone d’Argento award, by the club. Despite Giovinco's promising performances, Empoli were unable to avoid relegation, and he returned to Juventus at the end of the season. Second spell with Juventus On 26 June 2008, Giovinco officially returned to Juventus. Giovinco played his first Serie A match for Juventus on 24 September, against Catania, before assisting both goals for Vincenzo Iaquinta in the 2–2 draw with BATE Borisov in the Champions League on 30 September, his first start for the club. On 7 December, he scored his first goal for Juventus, a free kick against Lecce in a 2–1 win. In October 2008, he signed a contract extension, tying him to Juventus until the summer of 2013. Despite a promising start, Giovinco did not play regularly and made sporadic appearances throughout the season, both in the starting eleven and off the bench, as he struggled to fit into Claudio Ranieri's preferred 4–4–2 formation, and was often used out of position on the left wing. However, he did earn praise in the media for the Man of the match performance that he produced when he was started in Juventus's home fixture in Serie A against Bologna on 14 March 2009, in which he first set-up a goal from a corner and later scored another from a half-volley to help Juventus come from behind to win the match 4–1. He eventually finished the season with 3 goals in 27 appearances in all competitions, 2 of