Adelaide United is delighted to announce Louis D’Arrigo has signed a youth scholarship contract with the Club ahead of the 2018/19 season.
After a standout Foxtel Y-League campaign in 2017/18, D’Arrigo was named the league’s Player of the Year at the Dolan Warren Awards in April.
The 16-year-old then continued his impressive form into the Young Reds’ National Premier League of South Australia 2018 season, earning a call-up to Marco Kurz’s Hyundai A-League pre-season preparations.
D’Arrigo, a product of West Torrens Birkalla, becomes the sixth Young Reds player to make the step-up from Paul Pezos’ Youth Team, following on from Ryan Strain, Apostolos Stamatelopoulos, Kristin Konstandopoulos, Isaac Richards, and Pacifique Niyongabire.
Adelaide United’s General Manager of Football, Ante Kovacevic, praised D’Arrigo for his continual improvement since joining the Club from the Australian Institute of Sport.
“Louis has impressed us with his maturity and ability since joining the Club and we’re proud to see another young South Australian sign a youth scholarship contract with us,” Kovacevic said.
“There is no question about Louis’ potential and, at just 16 years of age, he has a lot of development still to go through and we’re confident he can become a high quality footballer.
“Louis’ addition to Marco’s senior team is testament to the quality of the Club’s youth programme and how we’ve been able to nurture our young talent.
“We’ve most recently seen Ryan Kitto, Nathan Konstandopoulos, and Nikola Mileusnic, who were all part of our youth set-ups previously, establish themselves as regular A-League players, with Ryan Strain another young footballer to progress.
“At the moment, our youth team are very competitive in the NPL and are in strong contention for a maiden finals appearance, which would be a significant achievement.
“But to have so many young players, like Louis, Apostolos, Kristin, Isaac, and Pacifique, making the jump to senior football and being part of that set-up is the ultimate goal and so far it’s being met very well.”
D’Arrigo’s signing takes Kurz’s squad to 23 contracted players, following the announcement of German midfielder, Mirko Boland, last week. He has been handed the number 27 shirt, meanwhile Ryan Strain and Apostolos Stamatelopoulos have switched their squad numbers, taking the vacant 4 and 33 respectively.
New signing, Boland, has opted to claim the number 31 shirt, with Pacifique Niyongabire switching to 24.
Hyundai A-League squad:
1.Daniel MARGUSH, 2.Michael MARRONE, 4.Ryan STRAIN, 5.Taylor REGAN, 6.Vince LIA, 7.Ryan KITTO, 8.ISAÍAS, 9.Baba DIAWARA, 10.Ken ILSØ, 11.Craig GOODWIN, 14.George BLACKWOOD, 16.Nathan KONSTANDOPOULOS, 17.Nikola MILEUSNIC, 18.Lachlan BROOK, 20.Paul IZZO, 22.Michael JAKOBSEN, 23.Jordan ELSEY, 24.PACIFIQUE NIYONGABIRE, 27.Louis D’ARRIGO, 28.Kristin KONSTANDOPOULOS, 30.Isaac RICHARDS, 31.Mirko BOLAND, 33.Apostolos STAMATELOPOULOS
