Is this the end of Bruno Fornaroli?

In a week where officiating took centre stage, a star striker’s response to his club’s social media posting has flown under the radar

Perth Glory announced the ins and outs for their Round 3 clash with the Central Coast Mariners. A fan queried where Bruno Fornaroli was, and the club’s social media account replied that he was absent due to injury.

But then Fornaroli replied, advising this information was wrong and that he was fully fit.

The post was deleted, and there’s been complete silence from both player and club since.

Although the Glory picked up a much-needed victory against the Mariners, Perth is still expected to be a wooden spoon contender. It now has to deal with the Fornaroli fallout.

Glory coach Ruben Zadkovich has been tasked with rebuilding this Perth side from the ground up since finishing last in 2021-22, with a big emphasis on young players.

There were issues in the last campaign, and now there are also problems this season between Fornaroli and Zadkovich.

Arguments are commonplace in football. Players fall out with coaches and vice versa almost daily across the globe. Normally there is a way of figuring things out, but on the odd occasion it’s not as simple as it sounds.

Contracts are what bind the player to the club, and there is always some sort of performance bonus for a striker, normally in relation to goals scored.

Fornaroli’s contact with Perth Glory will end at the conclusion of the 2022-23 season. Football journalist Tom Williams has reported that he will automatically trigger a two-year extension if he scores seven goals this season, taking his total goals scored to 15 across his current two-year contract period.

Bruno has averaged more than 11 goals a season since arriving in Australia seven years ago and even now in his mid-30s should still be more than capable of hitting that figure.

Where this situation gets murky is that Perth Glory have lost a lot of money over the past three COVID-affected seasons.

Fornaroli is the club’s biggest wage earner. He also ranks in the top 10 best-paid players in the A-League.

El Tuna is in a tricky position, as he is effectively being frozen out of the club.

Previously Fornaroli was infamously frozen out by Melbourne City coach Warren Moon in 2018 before going back on a pre-contract agreement with Adelaide United to sign a massive seven-figure deal with Perth Glory in 2019.

The soon-to-be 36-year-old is still more than capable of finding the back of the net, but at this point in time he’ll need to figure something out, as Glory’s financial issues means there will be no mutual termination of contract.

Star players being frozen out by a contract stipulation is nothing new.

Oliver Bozanic felt this freeze last season with the Central Coast Mariners, while elite European club Atletico Madrid were purposely not playing French star Antoine Griezmann several weeks ago to get around a stipulation in the terms of the club’s loan agreement with Barcelona.

Perth have done better than most fans expected, with three points on the board so far, but a player of El Tuna’s quality could really help turn Perth’s misfiring attack around, especially when assessing the team’s attacking stats this early in the season.

The Glory are sixth in goals scored, sixth in expected goals, eighth in shots on target and 11th in chance creation.

A record of 80-plus goals in just under 140 games is a great return and ensures Fornaroli will go down in history as one of the best South American strikers to play in the A-League.

A player of his quality should be playing. Unfortunately the millions of dollars the Glory lost during the pandemic, including in the ill-fated Daniel Sturridge experiment, could see one of the A-League’s all-time great hit men become all but forgotten