Ferreira signs for Adelaide
27 August 2012 06:26
Adelaide United head coach John Kosmina has completed his squad for the A-League season with the signing of Portuguese forward Fabio Ferreira.
Kosmina invited Ferreira to trial in July after the 23-year-old Portuguese had moved to Australia in a bid to rebuild his career and the attacking player has now signed a one-year contract.
As a 19-year-old, Ferreira looked to be on his way to the top of the world of football when he was taken to Chelsea during Jose Mourinho's first season in the English Premier League but after no first-team appearances his career stagnated in the lower leagues of England and Portugal.
Kosmina remains convinced, however, that Ferreira has something to offer Adelaide.
"Fabio has got a really good pedigree," Kosmina said on Monday.
"You don't get signed to Chelsea for four years by Jose Mourinho unless you've got something about you and he did enough (during his trial) to show that he has got what it takes and now it's just a matter of getting back up to where he was."
Ferreira moved to Sydney earlier this year to live with relatives and started playing with Dulwich Hill in the second-tier of NSW's state leagues.
While Adelaide's Hindmarsh Stadium is a long way from Chelsea's Stamford Bridge, Ferreira is just happy to be back at a professional club.
"It's a very good opportunity for me and I look forward to this season," Ferreira said.
"I'll just do my best and see how it goes.
"I came to Sydney to try and get my career on track again at a high level and now I've got my chance at Adelaide, I'll try to do my best, that's the first thing, and I hope the fans like what they see.
"I just want to do the best I can do."
Ferreira takes Kosmina's squad to the maximum 23 players and Adelaide United's head coach believes the former Sporting Lisbon junior definitely adds something extra.
"He offers us a real point of difference in that he's a natural wide player and we don't have a lot of natural width," Kosmina said.
"So someone who can play as a natural winger and is a good dribbler with pace, they're hard to find these days, so I think Fabs is going to have a bit of fun as well."
