Adelaide United Director of Football, Bruce Djite, says the signing of James Troisi will add further quality to the midfield ahead of the Hyundai A-League 2019/20 season.
Troisi agreed to a two-year deal with the Reds on Saturday and becomes the fourth new recruit this off-season.
The 31-year-old has experienced an impressive career to date which has seen him ply his trade in the top tiers of Turkey, Italy, and Belgium, in addition to being an integral member of Melbourne Victory’s squad for the last three years.
.@JamesTroisi is excited to be playing for his hometown team. 🙌 #AUFC
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— Adelaide United (@AdelaideUnited) October 8, 2019
Speaking to the media in Troisi’s official unveiling, Djite said his arrival bolsters Adelaide’s midfield stocks.
The duo previously played together at Gençlerbirliği in the Turkish Süper Lig.
“If I could sum it up in one word I’d say quality,” Djite said when asked what Troisi, who has 37 caps and five goals with the Socceroos, will bring to the team.
“He’s a quality player, I had the pleasure of playing with him when I played and I know first-hand how good he is.
“And we’ve seen him in the A-League and with the national team and he always provides quality.
“It doesn’t matter who you talk to that’s one word they’d use to describe him.
“So I feel our midfield needed to add a bit of quality to be more competitive and I think we’ve done that in securing James.”
Djite revealed the process it took in securing his services, and explained he left it entirely up to Troisi to make the decision about returning home to Adelaide.
“A lot of hurdles to jump through and negotiations to be had,” he said.
“You’re talking about a player who had a lot of options, he didn’t come to Adelaide because he didn’t have anywhere else to go.
“He came to Adelaide because he genuinely wanted to be here, in saying that when the negotiations started because there were so many options on the table for him and me being a past player I also understand that situation.
“I didn’t want to force the issue, it was more like, ‘I don’t want to beg you to come here, I want you to come here because you want to be here. So you filter through what options you have and let me know what you want to do’.
“It was only the last month if I’m honest where it really started to ramp up and coming to Adelaide United became a realistic target for James.”
A little more info about our newest recruit. ⤵️
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— Adelaide United (@AdelaideUnited) October 6, 2019
Djite said he was relatively happy with the overall state of the squad before suggesting while he was pleased he is always assessing ways to improve the team.
“I think you always want to improve,” he said.
“So while I’m relatively satisfied with what we’ve been able to bring in, considering the resources that we have I think the job has been good to date.
“But we always try to improve. Unless we get Messi or Ronaldo you always want better and better players.
“But when I first came in I had a shortlist of names, and I’ve got to be honest, Troisi and McGree were right near the top of that list.
“And we were able to get both of them and I think the squad not finalised yet but we are very, very close.”
Adelaide United host Sydney FC in Round 1 of the Hyundai A-League 2019/20 season on Friday, 11 October at Coopers Stadium. Kick-off is at 7.00pm ACDT. Live and Exclusive on Fox Sports, Kayo Sports and the My Football Live App.
