Antelmi returns from England to make an impact

Patrick Antelmi spent five years plying his trade with English Championship sides. The striker is now back in Australia and is ready to bang in the goals for Blacktown City.
Antelmi, 21, went abroad when he was only 16 years old, a difficult move to make at such an early age.
“I was very young to move over but it was really good.
“I learned a lot and gained so much experience from my time overseas.
During his five years in the UK, the youngster played for three different clubs, the first being Portsmouth who later went into administration due to financial problems.
“At the beginning, the environment at Portsmouth was good but the money issues caused major problems and it went from something amazing to something really bad.
Moves to Leeds United and finally Wigan Athletic followed for the striker.
“Leeds was the best experience I had, their fans are very big in the UK, the people at the club were great and the facilities were amazing.
“Wigan was good also, they just got relegated from the English Premier League when I moved over.”
The youngsters’ stay at Wigan was cut short though due to a new club policy.
“They got rid of the whole reserve team to try and save money in an attempt to get promoted back into the English top tier.”
Following the disappointment at Wigan, after trailing with other clubs, Antelmi felt it was time to come home and kick-start his career.
“The clubs I trialled with were looking for more experienced players so I had to make a choice and I decided I wanted to play football.”
Blacktown City was Antelmi’s choice upon return to Australia having spent time in City’s youth system before moving abroad.
“They’ve been loyal to me and it was where I played before I left.”
Having seen Travis Major, Jacob Poscoliero and Kearyn Baccus make the move from City to the Hyundai A-League, Antelmi saw it as a great opportunity.
“They were amongst the first to call me and the club is in touch with Graham Arnold who is interested in me.”
Antelmi admits the season will be tough but is confident the team can do well.
“It will be a hard season as we have a really young team with an average age of about 21.
“Regardless, we’ll do well because we aren’t expected to win the league considering all the players we lost. We will be up there.
Antelmi knows what he wants from this season and has already set his goals.
“I’m hoping to have a good season, score a few goals and help the team out.
“By the end of the year I’ll hopefully have a few calls from A-League teams.”