Young Greek Australian prodigy Panos Armenakas has decided to represent Australia’s U-17 squad at the Nike International Tournament in the United States later this month, revealing his allegiance to Australia.

Heralded as an up-and-comer and currently contracted to Serie A club Udinese, Armenakas has ummed and ahhed about what country he will represent internationally. The 16-year-old has a number of choices, being born in the US to a Greek father, but raised in Australia, Armenakas has had a conflict of interest with his allegiance.

He rejected the opportunity to represent Australia at an Asian tournament in Hong Kong last year because of fitness, and subsequently accepted a call-up to play for Greece in a friendly.

But his recent decision should have come as a sigh of relief for Joeys coach Tony Vidmar, with Armenakas saying it would be a great opportunity to represent Australia.

“Of course, if I was called up to be a member of the Joeys squad for the Nike Friendlies, I would for sure accept the invitation,” Armenakas told SBS’s The World Game.

“It would be a great honour to be selected to represent Australia at such a prestigious tournament.

“It would be even more satisfying to be called up, knowing Australia has continued to monitor my progress and development, even though I was ineligible to participate in the recent AFC Championships.

“For now though, I am 100 per cent focused on working hard every day at Udinese, staying focused, and trying to become the best player I can be.”

He is the youngest Australian in history to be signed by a Serie A club on a professional contract. Growing up in Sydney, Armenakas discovered his ability playing for local Greek sponsored club Sydney Olympic.

“Sydney Olympic gave me an opportunity to play at a high Australian youth level in their Under-13s when I was only 11 and so; challenging myself with and against older players helped my development,” Armenakas told Neos Kosmos back in August.

After Olympic, Armenakas became involved with the AC Milan Academy and then spent some time in Watford in England before he was signed by Udinese.

Source: The World Game (SBS).