Leeds United’s Australian striker Patrick Antelmi is in the running for a spot in the Young Socceroos Under-20 World Cup squad but says at the moment he is focused on his club form.
The 18-year-old joined Leeds from Portsmouth in September last year.
The Liverpool-raised forward from NSW moved to Pompey from Blacktown City at 16 after attracting interest from as young as 14.
Antelmi comes from the famed football nursery of western Sydney and has already made an impression at his new club, knocking in four goals in his first 10 games for Leeds’ Under-21 team.
The young striker, who idolised the football ability of Diego Maradona as a kid, has already played for the Joeys and turned down approaches from Sheffield Wednesday and Hibernian to join the Whites.
I chatted with Antelmi about his journey from Blacktown to Elland Road, about playing for Australia and Leeds United’s links with past Aussie players.
We also spoke about the development of his game and about the rise of the Western Sydney Wanderers.
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Adrian
Guest
Bondy he playing in Youth team football for English Championship team, so unlikely to make a HAL full team, he only 18 year old but there been so many Australian players playing for EPL youth teams, that we just never hear or see ever again ... Good luck to him
Bondy
Guest
He looks as green as a billiard table, he seems confused somewhat when talking about representing the nation and being involved in the HAL. One thing that has to be reversed is that the lad feels that getting out of Australia and Australian Football is the immediate action or solution to take,the irony is that he may never have been good enough to acquire a contract from the WSWanderers though. I hope the lad stays or remains injury free and look forward to tracking he's life journey.