before. He finally made his first-team debut in October 1988 and went on to play 30 games during the 1988–89 season. Di Canio scored the winner in the first Rome derby of the season, a goal which contributed to Lazio's survival in Serie A that season and earning him hero status. In 1990, he was sold to another of Italy's biggest clubs, Juventus; although he won the UEFA Cup with the Turin side in 1993, he struggled to gain playing time during his tenure with the club, due to the presence of other forwards and creative midfielders in the team, such as Roberto Baggio, Salvatore Schillaci, Pierluigi Casiraghi, Fabrizio Ravanelli, Gianluca Vialli, and Andreas Möller. He left Juventus after an "animated exchange" with then manager Giovanni Trapattoni and spent the 1993–94 season with Napoli. Two seasons followed at A.C. Milan, where, despite winning the Serie A title in 1996, he once again struggled to gain playing time due to heavy competition from his teammates, culminating in another row, this time with Fabio Capello. Celtic In July 1996 he joined Celtic in Scotland. In his first season at the club, he scored 15 goals in 37 appearances and won the SPFA Player of the Year award. However, his time in Glasgow was dogged by controversy; he was sent off during a 2–2 draw against Hearts in November 1996 and was heavily involved in an acrimonious league match against Rangers in March 1997 where he behaved aggressively towards Ian Ferguson and gestured in the direction of Rangers' bench as he was led from the field by teammates. He was called to the referee's room after the teams had returned to the dressing room and was shown another yellow card in addition to the one he had received earlier in the game. He demanded a large wage rise at the end of the season, but this was rejected by Celtic. He then refused to join the squad in the Netherlands for their pre-season training during July 1997. Sheffield Wednesday On 6 August 1997, Di Canio moved to the English Premiership as he joined Sheffield Wednesday in a transfer deal valued at around £4.2 million. Whilst in Sheffield, Di Canio was the club's leading goal scorer for the 1997–98 season with 14 goals and he became a favourite of the fans. In September 1998, Di Canio pushed referee Paul Alcock to the ground after