Brisbane Roar has secured championship winning midfielder Rocky Visconte for a further two seasons.
The 21-year-old has extended his contract with the club after a solid first season in the Hyundai A-League following his return to Australia from Scottish club Hearts.
Visconte-s season was topped off when he was substituted into the Grand Final in the 102nd minute before playing a pivotal role in the lead up to Erik Paartalu-s last minute equaliser which sent the match to penalties.
With the Grand Final victory in penalties fresh in his mind, the youngster said he was delighted to have extended his stay with the current Hyundai A-League Champions and Premiers.
“I-m very happy to be here and couldn-t imagine myself anywhere else with what-s going on at the club at the moment,” Visconte said.
“I didn-t really want to go anywhere else, Ange and the coaching staff have shown a lot of faith in me and I-ve got a lot of faith in them that they-ll develop me over the next two years.
“I-ve just recently turned 21, hopefully by the time my contract comes to an end I-ve developed into a good player and can look to go on to bigger and better things.”
While the end to Visconte-s season may have been a dream, it was a long way from the nightmare start he endured on arrival.
Arriving after the bulk of the squad for pre-season training after his contract ended with Hearts, a niggling hamstring injury hampered his start.
Visconte then tore his hamstring again during the Roar Roadshow tour around Brisbane putting him further behind the rest of the squad in terms of his overall conditioning and he didn-t have the impact he would have liked in his debut season.
When he did make an impact it was significant, including a last second winner – his only goal for the season – against Perth Glory in Perth in Week 9 of the competition.
Brisbane fans are yet to see the best of the versatile speedster, something Visconte plans to rectify over the coming two seasons.
“I-m a left sided player and I can play anywhere on the left,” he said.
“I just want to play to be honest, I can play in the midfield, I can play up top and I can play at left back.
“Right now it is about keeping fit and not getting injured like I did at the start of last season.
“To get into that Olyroos side I-m going to have to be playing regularly here at Brisbane and that-s something I-m going to really try and achieve, getting a lot of game time this season.”
Brisbane-s Head Coach Ange Postecoglou said Visconte-s versatility would be a vital component in the club-s title defence.
“Rocky is definitely one of those players we-re looking to get some big improvement out of this season,” Postecoglou said.
“He-s the kind of player we expect to step up and we-d prefer to invest in someone like that rather than bring in someone new.
“When you run with a small squad like we will again this year you need players who can fit into a lot of areas.
“There-s also not a lot of left-sided players in Australian football so he-s certainly worth investing in.”
