Orestis-Spyridon Karnezis (; born 11 July 1985) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
Club career
Panathinaikos
Born in Athens, but grew up in Corfu, Karnezis started his professional football career at Panathinaikos in 2007. He made only a few appearances for the club until the 2011–12 season, when he got more chances and impressed. After a few months, his coach, Jesualdo Ferreira, made him the regular goalkeeper of Panathinaikos. He had great performances and saved his team at crucial moments. Reports from Greece indicate that Karnezis was the subject of transfer speculation, as the Greek international attracted suitors from around Europe, following a solid campaign in the Superleague Greece 2012–13 season. Reports from Greece indicated that Udinese Calcio emerged as front-runners to sign Karnezis, after the Italian club reportedly offered €800,000 to bring Karnezis to the Serie A that summer. Karnezis took over as Panathinaikos' number one choice in goal that season and played admirably for the Athens giants. Karnezis' exploits for the Trifylli earned him consistent call-ups to the Greece national football team.
Udinese
Karnezis completed his move from Panathinaikos to Udinese Calcio, after the two clubs reached an agreement over the Greece international's transfer. The 28-year-old keeper had been linked with a move to the Serie A side in recent weeks, with Panathinaikos manager Yannis Anastasiou keen to use income from the transfer to continue building his squad. A fee of €750,000 had been quoted by the Greek press, with a further €2 million due to Panathinaikos if the player returned to Greece to play with another club in the future. Karnezis signed a five-year contract on 22 July 2013, then was immediately loaned out to Spain's Granada for the season by the Italian club.
Loan to Granada
Karnezis made his Spanish La Liga debut for Granada in a 3–0 away loss to Almeria on 4 January 2014. Karnezis had earlier in the season played in both legs of the Copa del Rey (Spanish Cup) against AD Alcorcón on 8 December 2013 and 18 December 2013.
On 12 April, Karnezis was the key player in a 1–0 home victory against Barcelona, saving a shot from Cesc Fàbregas and a 20-yard free-kick from Lionel Messi. Barça totalled 29 shots on goal, none of which succeeded in beating Karnezis.
2014–15 season
In his return to Udinese after the loan stint with Granada in La Liga, Karnezis made his Serie A debut in Udinese's 2–0 home victory over Empoli on 31 August 2014. On 9 November 2014, Udinese managed to scrap a 1–1 draw against Palermo as Karnezis parried a Franco Vazquez penalty. On 15 March 2015, Andrea Stramaccioni praised Karnezis and Antonio Di Natale after Udinese picked up a point against Atalanta, by stating that throughout the year and not only in that game, Karnezis gave a sense of security to the squad, even without necessarily making difficult saves.
Italian sports newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport claimed that Napoli were interested in signing Karnezis after his remarkable 2014–15 season with Udinese. "It is too early", his agent Vasilis Panayotakis said. "We will see what happens after May 20, when we know what is really going on with the clubs that have shown interest. Karnezis is committed to Udinese until the end of the season, that is more important right now". During the season former Italian national goalkeeper Dino Zoff had heaped praise on both Karnezis and Mattia Perin, labelling the pair the best glovesmen in Serie A.“It's going well, he's young and can only get better: he is taking confidence that is essential for a goalkeeper. I think Karnezis and Perin are the best goalies in Series A.”
On 14 May 2015, Udinese confirmed they were ready to sell Karnezis, to make room for Simone Scuffet. Roma were interested and he was linked with a move to the Giallorossi. "Karnezis could've gone to Benfica last summer, but Andrea Stramaccioni decided to focus on his international experience," explained Udinese director Andrea Carnevale on TeleRadioStereo. "Now with his excellent season, he can go to a more important club. Our future is Simone Scuffet. We've been preserving him, as a season working as understudy to Karnezis has helped him to grow."
On 24 May 2015, in a home game against Sassuolo, Karnezis was injured. The hosts were forced to make their first substitution in the 29th minute, with Scuffet replacing Karnezis. According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, discussions over a new agreement had begun and the 29-year-old goalkeeper was ready to put pen to paper, to extend his stay until 2020. Udinese Calcio had turned down offers from Roma, Inter, Napoli, Benfica and other European clubs.