You are correct. Butbyou might have missed the fact that my comment was based on a suggestion that he should come and join the WeeNix, not the senior side. He'd be better off in Serie D, or even Eccellenza of that's his only option.
Just like Uffie knows alot about the many young Aussies overseas, I'm sure likes of Greenacre & Gill know plenty about the small pool of young Kiwis up north.
Scimia came to NZ a few years ago to trial for Buckingham's U19/20s. I'm sure Greenie only has to pick up the phone to Des for some intel. But yes if you are a 22 yr old bench player at a relegated Serie C club, unlikely to fit in anywhere at the Nix. Hopefully he's just a late developer, and can stay in the pro game somewhere.
I mean, true enough - if you're speaking in general terms. To go from Serie C (not a starter but still 26 caps last season) to the NZ National League... That's a massive backwards step! He's going to have to find a gig somewhere soon enough. And WeeNix would be better than no football at all - but I just can't see him upping sticks and moving over here after 3 years as a professional, unless he was signing for Phoenix.
It's also a bit tricky for a Kiwis like Scimia if the Nix (NZ's only pro club) ever did make an approach, which wouldn't happen unless he was banging in a few Serie C goals anyway.
But he relocates all the way down here, it doesn't work out and he doesn't have much choice other than heading back up north again - Italy having been his home for what the last 5+ years. A little bit the same for any of those young ex Ole guys at Torslanda, Helsingor or wherever if the Nix ever comes with an offer, Academy or pro contract. Same again for those slightly older guys floating around the USL, always another US club to potentially move to in need.
But Aussies like Piscopo or Pennington, if it doesn't work out with the Nix, they have 11 other A League clubs that might make them an offer, as non visa players. If you are a half decent, cheap young Aussie, CCM will always be interested! So they can uproot from Europe, with a bit of a security blanket if it doesn't work out in Wellington.
maybe you are right Piscopo and Pennington have more playing time than Luca in Serie C and maybe they were considered more "owners" than him. But having 5 goals as a midfielder at 22 (in the last 2 years in Serie C) above all 5 important goals with a high coefficient of difficulty are still important numbers. I assure you that finding a class 99 role midfielder with 5 goals in the last 2 years is not easy at all.
with all due respect to Piscopo (who is a player I respect very much and consider very talented) he has the same goals as Luca (5) being a striker and having played more in terms of minutes than Luca.
Serie D a bit of a shark show at the moment. They are yet to make public the fixtures for the upcoming season which is set to start soon. So far, it appears there will be 169 teams divided over 9 or so regional groups. Fano so far have signed no players and Luca appears to be unattached.
Is no longer listed as a Fano player on the club's website. Mods can probably update to his status to unattached. Will keep checking the news for transfer rumours but so far I've come up empty handed. Serie C has already started so he's unlikely to get picked up there. I wonder if he has decided to take a few months off and wait for the January transfer window to open.
Daily Internet checks (I have a problem) continue to yield no results. Best I could do this time was an article from 2 weeks ago that lists him as a free agent along with other Serie C midfielders...
Jeez that's a bit low on the pyramid. Hopefully he can make a good fist of it though and bump his way back up to Serie C at least sometime in the near future.
Why do you think it's low? It's Italy for we know they might be decent at football and it be their national sport, which may mean they have plenty of by NZ standard good players. Mind you probably not on the same high level as we have in our national league.
Why do you think it's low? It's Italy for we know they might be decent at football and it be their national sport, which may mean they have plenty of by NZ standard good players. Mind you probably not on the same high level as we have in our national league.
While I agree it is still football mad Italy, so football as a whole culture is embedded and embraced across the nation as it is across the continent, here is my rationale. The Serie A is world class, even with it's have and have nots, you can't deny the class amount of players in the top tier, let alone the great names and great institutions of the game that would be recognisable around the world.
Then you drop down to Serie B, which is probably a better standard/quality than most top level leagues across the weaker nations in Europe, and still a decent level.
Then you drop down to Serie C with three groups of 20. Surely the talent is starting to be diluted a bit by then. Yes I'm aware that Niko Kirwan is at that level, but him and his side at least looked geared towards, or at least look likely to put up a challenge to go up to Serie B, where he was last season. It's not a bust of a league and it's competitive and tight right across the board, but it almost seems like a bit of a sh!t fight for anything at that level and looking at relegation and promotion battles it's just a dog fight.
Also, reading through a lot of Newzealandpower's posts of teams going tits up/bust even at this tier, it doesn't particularly lend itself to sustainability or any outstanding quality. Some decent players for sure though.
But then there is Serie D - 9 groups, 172 teams... I get the bit about the culture and the general football appetite of the Italians as a whole, but I think the only country in the world with depth down to their 4th tier in their footballing pyramid would be in England, and even that is pretty fraught at the moment with money and clubs being hard up. Just my opinion of course.
I'd love to get newzealandpower's thoughts on this also, because I find his posts on the state of the game over their to be fantastic.
Don't get me wrong either, I wish him well down there, but I hope he makes a move up to at least Serie C level again sometime in the near future.
Wow well done on finding this bit of news. I've been looking daily for so long and of course once I stop, he does finally find a new club! OK so my view is that Serie D is a pretty good league overall, but it is semi pro in nature. Italia has 65M inhabitants so the talent is there and even below D you can find good players. Serie D is un my view probably slightly better than the average Handy team. Top teams will have cash and talent and will, be gunning for promotion, whilst stragglers will not be that good. It isn't a terrible league to be in, but it certainly takes Luca out of the spotlight and away from an All whites call up. I think Hay & Co will have Serie C as the cut off for selection, unless he goes and scores 20 goals this season.
I hope he gets noticed and makes a return to the professional ranks next season. Strange that he didn't join a team in August as this would have given him a better chance to be scouted for the January transfer window.
Re: club name - it is officially called SSD Virtus San Nicolò Terema, but it is shortened to Notaresco.
Also, he has already made his debut for Notaresco, subbed on in the final 12 minutes in a 2-1 loss vs local rivals Vastese.
FB article on the club's page here https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=4319676388129177&id=1739199302843578&_ft_=mf_story_key.4319676388129177%3Atop_level_post_id.4319676388129177%3Atl_objid.4319676388129177%3Acontent_owner_id_new.1739199302843578%3Athrowback_story_fbid.4319676388129177%3Apage_id.1739199302843578%3Astory_location.4%3Astory_attachment_style.photo%3Aott.AX-__bvMIOno7Md-%3Atds_flgs.3%3Apage_insights.%7B%221739199302843578%22%3A%7B%22page_id%22%3A1739199302843578%2C%22page_id_type%22%3A%22page%22%2C%22actor_id%22%3A1739199302843578%2C%22dm%22%3A%7B%22isShare%22%3A0%2C%22originalPostOwnerID%22%3A0%7D%2C%22psn%22%3A%22EntStatusCreationStory%22%2C%22post_context%22%3A%7B%22object_fbtype%22%3A266%2C%22publish_time%22%3A1634921089%2C%22story_name%22%3A%22EntStatusCreationStory%22%2C%22story_fbid%22%3A%5B4319676388129177%5D%7D%2C%22role%22%3A1%2C%22sl%22%3A4%2C%22targets%22%3A%5B%7B%22actor_id%22%3A1739199302843578%2C%22page_id%22%3A1739199302843578%2C%22post_id%22%3A4319676388129177%2C%22role%22%3A1%2C%22share_id%22%3A0%7D%5D%7D%7D&__tn__=%2C%3B
Apparently he knew the sporting director and one of the players (Loviso) from his stint at Rende a couple of years back
Notaresco knocked out of the Serie D Cup after a 7-6 loss on penalties (1-1 after the 90 and the game went straight to pens). Full game and a yellow for Scimia who also converted his penalty
Subbed off at 64 min in a 2-0 away win vs Chieti. Gets a yellow for his troubles but had a hand in both his team's goals from reading the match report, first with a cross that led to the opener and then by winning a free kick outside the penalty box which was converted.
Subbed off at 70min in a 1-0 victory over FC Matese. Score was 0-0 when he came off. Notaresco currently in 4th place in their group, respectively - 4 off second and - 7 off first and with a game in hand
Highlights here: https://www.zonacalciofaidate.it/video/serie-d-video/s-n-notaresco-aurora-alto-casertano-4-0-serie-d-girone-f-17-giornata/ He scored the 4th goal around the 1'25'' mark. A lovely left footed volley from outside the box. The commentator said he'd only just been subbed on too.
Highlights here: https://www.zonacalciofaidate.it/video/serie-d-video/s-n-notaresco-aurora-alto-casertano-4-0-serie-d-girone-f-17-giornata/ He scored the 4th goal around the 1'25'' mark. A lovely left footed volley from outside the box. The commentator said he'd only just been subbed on too.
Came on for the final 10 minutes plus injury time in a 1-0 win vs Castelfidardo on 26 Jan. Score was already 1-0. Notaresco will again be in action overnight as they complete the first half of the season
It's been difficult to keep up with Scimia down in the 4th tier. Looks like his team just completed their season 9/18 teams - though only 1 point above the play out zone (ironically Luca's old Fano will be competing in those) and above 3 teams on the ladder just on goal difference. So not as comfortable as 9/18 may look like. A goal and an assist for Luca in their previous match but from what I saw, it's been a bad season for him with a lot of riding the pine and a bunch of appearances, mainly off the bench. Will look for better stats, but I'd say he would have scored 2-3 goals and maybe featured in 10 or so games. Had some injury concerns early on if I remember correctly. Don't know what will happen now, he certainly hasn't done much to warrant a recall to Serie C. Might need a dose of good luck.
Scimia found the net in the second to last game of the season. Can't find accurate stats but I think he got 3 or so for the season. News fresh off the press that the Nostaresco President is leaving the team. I assume he'll be selling. So turbulent times to come. Let's see what happens over the summer.
After 18 caps and 2 goals for Serie D (4th tier) outfit Notaresco, Luca has joined Eccellenza (5th tier) side L'Aquila 1927, following his coach Massimo Epifani who has coached him at 3 different clubs already.
L'Aquila have asked to be readmitted to Serie D and that appeal is ongoing. They seem to be a well backed team (their Facebook page has tons of sponsorship posts) from a fairly large town (in the Abruzzo region) who will be pushing for promotion back to Serie D should their appeal not go through.
A home coming of sort as his father is from L'Aquila and apparently that's where he has been living since he was a child.
A far cry from Serie C and All Whites selection, but he's still quite young so let's wish him a breakout season. FB post. Another article.
Preseason started yesterday according to this post. Looks like there's another Scimia in the squad, but that's not overly surprising as that second name is fairly common around those parts. L'Aquila have a good coach and a decent squad, and their season objective is to get promoted to Serie C.
L'Aquila are doing quite well, 3rd after 9 games with a 7-1-1 record. Scimia is listed as a midfielder and apparently hasn't scored yet. To make things more complicated, his younger brother plays up front and he's scored one so far. They also have a 35 to Argentinian, apparently a former U-20 player (Jonatan Alessandro) who's scored 6 in 9.
Back up a tier to Notaresco Calcio 1924. IMG_20221219_235736.jpg377.86 KB From what I understand it's a slightly different entity to SN Notaresco who he was with last season.