From Little things, big things grow. Avellino Calcio may not be a household name in club football, but for now the Italian Serie B club is host to a young Melbourne-born footballer, who is pursuing a boyhood dream of playing football in Europe.
Sixteen-year-old Costa Mesourouni, the son of Australian-born Greek Cypriot dad Harry and Greek mum Theoni, has just signed on for 18 months at the club known as Lupi (The Wolves) based in the Campania region and located just 40km inland from coastal Naples in the south west of Italy.
Costa, whose dad played for Northcote City, was introduced to the game at the age of three, and progressed through junior club football, eventually playing for South Melbourne’s U18s in 2015.
From there Costa enrolled in a Genova International School of Soccer (GISS) residency program in Italy aimed at preparing him for a trial with an Italian club. Director of GISS Morris Pagniello says on the GISS Facebook page:
“I’m very happy for Costa to have signed at Avellino as he has deserved it all. He was the most improved player in the residency program in Italy and was the most dedicated also.”
Costa told Neos Kosmos via email, that he chose to join Avellino because “unfortunately Australia couldn’t provide the correct development for me to succeed in achieving my dream”.
“My dream has always been to play in Europe. The experience that I will get from Avellino will hopefully make me a better player, to go on to a bigger club.”
Costa lists his football idols as Frank Lampard, Zinedine Zidane, Lionel Messi and Carlos Puyol, and he says his dream is to one day play for his favourite club Chelsea or another big European team.
“As parents, we can only support him to follow his dream,” says mum Theoni. “It’s extremely hard to have your child living on the other side of the world, however, it’s his dream and we wouldn’t stop him or any of our other children in pursuing what they love doing. Costa is strong willed and minded and he can achieve anything he puts his mind to.”
Commenting on the GISS Facebook page, Costa said: “I’m very excited to have this opportunity and have a chance to live my dream and try my best to make it! A special thanks to my family support and Dimitri Koltsov, GISS Academy coach and Morris for giving me this chance.”
