Goal Australia’s Hyundai A-League Player of the Year Bruno Fornaroli wants to go down in the history books at Melbourne City and believes he won’t do so until he wins a title with the club.
Fornaroli took the A-League by storm in 2015-16, becoming the first player in the competition’s history to break the 20-goal mark in the regular season and finishing the campaign with 25 after a stunning brace in City’s elimination final victory over Perth Glory.
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But the Uruguayan striker reckons such achievements will mean little in the long run and he wants to ensure his name is remembered in perpetuity by helping City claim their maiden piece of A-League silverware.
With rumours flying around about Fornaroli’s future, the 28-year-old seems committed to at least seeing out the second year of his current contract with the Bundoora-based club.
“I want to go in the history [books] for this club and for this you need to win the league,” Fornaroli told Goal Australia.
“Don’t say top-scorer – maybe next season comes a new striker and he scores 26 [goals]. But when you win the league for the first time, nobody takes this [away from you]. This was a big disappointment for me.”
When Fornaroli arrived in Melbourne before the season, there was little to indicate he would become one of the most dangerous forwards the A-League has seen.
The former Sampdoria and Panathinaikos forward had only managed three goals in 11 matches for Danubio in 2014-15, while his goal-scoring rate per minute over the past four years was nothing to get excited about.
But the journeyman striker reckons there is a simple explanation for his improvement this season – City coach John van ‘t Schip played him up front.
“I’ve been told to play in my [preferred] position – number nine. I think this is why I have a good season,” Fornaroli said.
He added: “This year, in my position, I take confidence and I play different and of course when you score one you’re confidence goes up.
“But in my [previous] teams, I did different work, more back and maybe more assists than goals. But I enjoyed this year, my return to my position.”
If Fornaroli was to match this season’s tally in 2016-17, he would surge into the A-League’s top 10 goal-scorers of all time after just two terms.
It may seem ridiculous but the Salto-born attacker is always looking to improve.
“Yeah, I think that [this] is my best season but I say every time, the best [is still] coming. I wait for the next season also,” he said.
