Alameda: Being written off by everyone else is Australia’s superpower at the World Cup. But Alessandro Circati doesn’t want it to be that way forever and, it seems, the wheel is turning. Slowly.
Wins aren’t the only way to shift the global perception of the national team, although they certainly help. The main reason why so many people in other countries gloss over the Socceroos is much more elementary: they simply don’t know any of the players.
And they don’t know them because they don’t play for the biggest clubs, in the biggest leagues.
That could be about to change.
The World Cup is football’s biggest shop window, and Australia’s top youngsters have their faces pressed against the glass. While they’re out on the pitch, their agents are working away in the background, teeing up deals and negotiating with clubs, some of which will be eager to leverage any good performances by selling them on for the highest possible price. It’s part of the game’s business model.
Before Australia’s campaign had even begun, Lucas Herrington was the subject of a formal transfer bid by Barcelona, as revealed by this masthead last week – and since confirmed by outlets in Spain, which say the La Liga champions are leading the race for the prodigious 18-year-old defender.
More players are attracting interest following their surprise 2-0 win over Turkey.
Circati, who plays for Parma in Italy’s Serie A, is reportedly being pursued by not only Newcastle United but Atletico Madrid, who have been following him for several years but appear to have renewed their interest after his terrific display at the back in Vancouver.
Nestory Irankunda is being tracked by West Ham United – although, given they’ve just been relegated to the English Championship, where he already plays for Watford, that would be a sideways move.
If Jordan Bos was still at Feyenoord by the start of the new season, it would almost be a shock; his ankle-breaking run to shake off Turkey’s Kerem Akturkoglou in Vancouver has gone properly viral, but Bos’ representatives had been laying the groundwork anyway in recent months for a possible Premier League switch.
It’s the same deal with Paul Okon jnr. Most Sydney FC fans are already resigned to him being a one-season wonder for their club in the A-League because clearly, much bigger and better things await for him.
For most of these players, this will be a new experience – but not for Circati, who has learned how to deal with rumours in the press about potential transfer moves, and the associated back-channel discussions that take place. Previously, he’s been linked with Juventus and Napoli, as well as some unnamed Premier League clubs, but has never let it affect his football.
As long as the player involved can keep their heads screwed on properly – something Circati says he can help them with – it’s not necessarily a bad thing to receive such flattering news during a World Cup.
“I’ve been through it already. I’ve lived in very similar moments, very similar news,” he said.
“It does give you motivation … a better feeling within yourself that what you’re doing is somewhat correct. But I think we’ve got to really leave that out and really focus on what’s at hand, and we’ll worry about that after the World Cup.
“And I’ll pass that message on to the younger boys who maybe they haven’t witnessed something like that, haven’t lived it. But I think the most important thing is to focus on today and tomorrow and after the World Cup, then you can sit down with whoever you need to sit down [with] and decide.”
The men’s game in Australia is in the midst of the biggest wave of young talent since the golden generation of the mid-2000s and the rest of the world is starting to take notice.
Nobody can tell the future holds, but there’s a pretty good chance that at the next World Cup, in 2030, the list of the Australian players’ clubs will look more prestigious than it does right now.
Circati is looking forward to it, because it will mean the Socceroos will be perceived in a very different way by others.
“I hope we’re starting to gain a little bit more respect,” he said.
“I don’t want to be the underdogs for the rest of my life. I want to be a team which everyone faces and is like: ‘Ah, we’ve got to play Australia.’
“That will come with time, and I’m sure many boys will go to great clubs – and then once that happens, it will become reality.”
