Twelve months is a long time in football, especially in the Isuzu Ute Men’s A-League where a seasonal high turnover of players and staff is the norm.
While Perth Glory have plenty of fresh faces on board for preseason training, one of the most exciting prospects is the return of Carlo Armiento.
The 23-year-old is close to full recovery from a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee, sustained in an innocuous training ground collision last September.
“It’s good to get back, I’ve been out for the year and it’s a new environment,” he said. “I’m buzzing and the boys are buzzing to get into it, start fresh and go again.”
Image credit: Esteban Barbosa / Perth Glory FC
While Glory’s 2021/22 campaign was one moment of uncertainty after another, Armiento went about his business in the background and worked diligently to recover from his second knee reconstruction having done the right ACL at 15 years of age.
“I think for the first 48 hours to a week you need to realise that you’re out for a year,” he said.
“Once you get through that then you get onto your rehab and then it gets a bit more…I wouldn’t say fun, but the negativity is not there. I think that’s the hardest bit – if you dwell on it longer it could affect you.
“But I’m pretty strong, I’ve got good family, good girlfriend at home, good friends so everyone supported me and now I’m buzzing to be back out.”
The Adelaide born attacker went home to South Australia for the first few weeks of rehabilitation before returning to Perth and putting in the hard yards daily.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom though and Armiento made the most of his free time when the rest of the squad were on the road.
“Luckily Perth’s weather in the summer is quite good so I was in at 8 o’clock, done by 12 o’clock and straight down to the beach,” he said.
“In the afternoon, maybe I’d do an extra gym session because I had so much time off. I think the one year off and the team being away was a blessing in disguise for me, I could get my body right and be super strong now. You could almost say I’ve got a new body!”
There has been a host of changes since Armiento last kicked a ball on the pitch in Glory colours, however he is excited by what he has seen so far from Head Coach Ruben Zadkovich, as well as the new training facilities and signings that have come on board.
“I love him [Zadkovich],” he said. “He’s an interesting character but once you get to know him, he’s a good guy, and the way we’re going to play this year, especially in my position, I’m really looking forward to it. I can’t wait to get out there and start playing.
“I think the new faces plus the new facility we’ve got is excellent, we go there every morning, we meet, we mingle, we stay there all day pretty much. It’s a tight knit group and a family now.”
Football is a results-based business though and Armiento is all too aware the Glory need to turn things around in that regard.
“Now we just need to look forward, no one wants to finish bottom,” he said.
“I think with Rubes coming now, the main drive is we want to win every game. We hate losing, that’s the drive being put into the squad so one week at a time in preseason with a new system. We need to learn that first and we’ll be competitive this year, for sure.”
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It is two-and-a-half years since Armiento made the move to Glory as a free agent and he has settled nicely into the West Australian way of life.
“I almost call it home now, I love Perth,” he said. WA has been very nice to me, the people, the friends, Perth Glory…they’ve made me feel at home. Andy [Keogh] when I came as a player, Bruno [Fornaroli], Diego [Castro], Chris [Ikonomidis] when he was here…so yeah, I love Perth. If my family was here, I would probably call it my first home.”
So comfortable now around the club and his teammates, Armiento even has the confidence to sport a bleached blonde hair cut that makes it difficult to distinguish between himself and Giordano Colli at a distance.
“When I did my knee the first time, no one saw, but I did my hair back at home and then it grew out,” he said.
“And then my little cousin said ‘I want to see it one more time on TV’ so I said I’d do it one more time. So yeah, Gio was the first and I copied him…but I do it better!”
Armiento recently spent three weeks in Adelaide with family but came back to Perth to start preseason early so he could be in the best shape possible for the start of the new campaign.
“With a long-term injury, if you win the short terms goals then the long-term goals will come,” he said. “One day at a time, get through preseason, and eventually the big goals come.
“Everything is all good so far, I’ve only got three or four weeks left until I’m full contact in training. From there, a month of full training and hopefully play some games.”
That timeline has Armiento on track to be involved in Round 1 and Glory fans will no doubt welcome the winger back with open arms.
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