The Australian agent behind Alessandro Del Piero’s move to Sydney FC reveals how this deal came about. “I’ve been working on it for three months.”
The Australian agent behind Alessandro Del Piero’s move to Sydney FC reveals how this deal came about. “I’ve been working on it for three months.”
The former Juventus legend will hold a Press conference in Turin at 12.30 UK time to explain why he turned down offers from Liverpool, Southampton and Sion to join the A-League.
“I’ve been working on this for three months,” FIFA agent and intermediary Lou Sticca told TMW.
“I was in Turin for his last game against Atalanta and contacted his brother Stefano, proposing the idea of coming to Australia. At that point I was respectful, because they had alternatives and Australia was not in their plans.
“I stayed in contact and in the last two weeks their interest intensified, since Stefano Del Piero confessed Alessandro really admired the work David Beckham had done for the MLS.
“I have taken LA Galaxy to Australia and New Zealand for games in the last four years, so proposed a ‘special project.’ Sydney liked the idea too and things got moving. Now we hope that we’ve finally won this battle.”
There is a huge population of Australian-Italians and Del Piero is a beloved figure Down Under.
“The A-League is on the same level as Serie B in Italy, which is what Benny Carbone said when he came to play in Sydney. It is growing as a Division.
“Del Piero is extremely popular in Australia, as out of 22m inhabitants around 1m have Italian blood. Many of them support Juventus too, as in 1985 they came here to play with Zwibi Boniek, Giovanni Trapattoni, Paolo Rossi and Gaetano Scirea.
“Having played for Italy against Australia in the 2006 World Cup, Del Piero is even better known.
“Players like Juninho and Robbie Fowler have already played here, so Del Piero will be a great advert for the A-League.”