Perth Glory’s Adriano Pellegrino says deferring a trial at Scottish Premier League club Motherwell until after the Australian season finishes proved an easy decision after all.
The midfielder, nicknamed Pedro by his team-mates, was booked on a flight to Scotland last Saturday but opted to remain in Perth and ensure he was part of the Glory’s push towards a maiden Hyundai A-League finals appearance over the season’s last three weeks.
While original reports suggested last season’s Most Glorious Player was headed to Celtic to show his wares, Pellegrino said efforts to earn a trial with the Bhoys had petered out and that Motherwell had been the only club interested.
But, with the opportunity still available to head to Motherwell in March or April, the 25-year-old said it wasn’t a difficult decision to remain in Perth for what may be a historic period at the club.
“Something came up and the flight was booked in and ready to leave last Saturday night,” Pellegrino said ahead of Perth’s clash with the Mariners this weekend.
“But I decided prior to the game on Friday night (against Wellington) that I was going to hang around, just due to the fact that it was, not long to go in the season and I want to be here.”
“It was a hard decision, but I made it and I feel ready to go at the end of the season.”
“I’ve become a part of the club and I really wanted to stay around and get some success here,” he said.
Pellegrino acknowledged the decision may backfire and count against him when it comes to a possible trial at Motherwell later in the year.
“I guess you do have a little bit of doubt there,” Pellegrino said.
“(You) always have doubt after you make the decision, maybe I should have gone or anything like that.”
“But at the end of the day I’ve decide what I decided and that’s what my heart told me to do and that’s what I did.”
“I want to be around at the club and I want to enjoy our finals campaign and hopefully get a good win this week and it puts us right up there and we can even maybe finish fourth if we get some points the last few games.”
Pellegrino said his decision hadn’t been influenced by Chris Coyne’s experience earlier in the month, when the defender undertook a lightning trip to trial at Chinese club Shandong Luneng, only to struggle on his return to the Perth line-up in a 6-2 thrashing by Melbourne.
Since then, though, the Glory have defeated Adelaide 3-2 and looked untroubled by Wellington in a 2-0 result last Friday night that’s put them on the brink of finals football.
A big contributor on Friday night was Scottish midfielder Steven McGarry, who previously played with Motherwell. Despite McGarry’s departure from the club being far from ideal, Pellegrino said his advice may yet help him earn a move to Scotland.
“He helped me out a little bit in regards to standards and what to expect,” Pellegrino said.
“It’s been in the pipeline from before he came, so it was just sort of a helping hand.”
“But yeah, he’s helped me out a lot and he made the decision to go there much easier but once again I’ve turned around at the last second and cancelled it, so I just have to try and focus on the finals and head over there after the season finishes.”
