New on-loan signing Michael Zullo has officially been unveiled and he was quick to reinforce that he has not come to Adelaide just to make up the numbers.
New on-loan signing Michael Zullo has officially been unveiled and the talented left sided player was quick to reinforce that he has not come to Adelaide just to make up the numbers.
Zullo arrived in Adelaide on Sunday night in search of more minutes on the pitch after departing his Dutch club, FC Utrecht, for a season long loan spell with the Reds.
Starved of game time with Utrecht so far this season, Zullo, who turns 25 next Wednesday, was complimentary of the Reds- commitment in getting him to Adelaide, and it is something he hopes he can repay the club in spades.
“I-ve come to Adelaide obviously to play football… things weren-t going to plan for me at my club in Holland, so this is a fantastic opportunity for me,” Zullo said.
“Adelaide straight away showed huge interest and they did everything in their power to make it happen as fast as possible, so I-m just really happy to be here and I-m looking forward to the season.”
“From what I-ve seen so far and from what I knew about Adelaide before I came, it-s the perfect club for me and I feel good about it.”
“The coach (Josep Gombau) has given me really good positive messages about how he wants to play the game and everyone at the club worked really hard to get me here.”
While his top priority is to help the Reds to be successful on the field this season, it is no secret that his desire for regular game time comes with an aim of putting himself in the mix for a Socceroos call up to next year-s World Cup in Brazil. With Brazil 2014 less than 12 months away, Zullo knows the upcoming Hyundai A-League season will be the big audition for putting himself in the attention of Socceroos boss Holger Osieck.
“You can see by the amount of movement by Australian players in the last few weeks that everyone knows how important this year is – to be playing week in week out but also to be playing in a good side and to be playing well,” Zullo said.
“That-s my goal for the season. I can-t just come here and be happy to just be a ‘bit-part- player or just to play 90 minutes every week, I-ve come here to really perform every week and hopefully force myself into the starting eleven.”
Having been in the highly competitive, high pressure environment of the Dutch Eredivisie since 2010, Zullo knows nothing, including a spot in the Reds- starting eleven, is guaranteed. But if his enthusiasm and eagerness to play well for Adelaide United is anything to go by, he is giving himself every chance to feature prominently for the Reds in Season 9.