Gasperini has named him on the bench four times in Serie A matches but is yet to deploy him in the league, although that moment may not be too far off.
“I’ve learned a lot already,” Arena said. “He won a lot of games and brought up a lot of strong players, I want to keep working and I hope to continue like this.”
The question remains: which nation will choose to represent at the international level?
Antonio Arena, the last Aussie wonder in Italy.Credit: Getty Images
A former member of the Western Sydney Wanderers academy, Arena played youth international football for Australia and Italy, where he qualified through family connections.
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Last year, he became the youngest goalscorer in the history of Serie C club Pescara, giving him the nickname Baby Bomber by the Italian media and hype for his services from some of Italy’s biggest clubs won by Roma, who signed him for a reported transfer fee of $1.78 million.
Arena’s trajectory is reminiscent of that of Volpata, another player who was born and raised in Sydney, left the Australian system to accelerate his development in Italy and made his debut in Rome unexpectedly early.
Volpato, 22, who now plays for Roma’s Serie A rivals Sassuolo, turned down the chance to play for Graham Arnold’s Socceroos at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and appears to be waiting for an opportunity to represent the Azzurri..
The Socceroos appear to have a fight on their hands to avoid a repeat of this situation and earn the loyalty of an Arena that looks destined for big things.
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