Twenty-year-old playmaker Panos Armenakas could be at the centre of a triangular international tussle for his services following his Greek Super League debut for his new club Panathinaikos last weekend.
After signing with the famous Greek club in January this year, the skilful Armenakas got his chance when he came off the bench in the 76th minute in his team’s 3-1 away win to Apollon Smyrni.
The Sydney raised Armenakas hopes it’s the start of consistent senior football which up till now has proven elusive to the talented US born player whose precocious talent and desire to play professionally, led him to leave Sydney where he played junior football with Sydney Olympic, in search of a career in European football. After making the move to Europe he progressed through youth academies at Watford and Serie A club Undinese before signing his first professional contract with Udinese in 2015. In 2017, he was loaned out to Belgium second tier club Tubize, where his first team appearances were restricted to just six matches.
After his three year contract at Udinese expired, Armenakas found himself trialling at Panathinaikos in late 2018 which led to the club signing him on a free transfer in the January transfer window.
Should he succeed in establishing himself as a first team regular in the Greek Super league, it could spark a three way tug of war for his international services between Australia, Greece and the US (his country of birth) as he is eligible to play for all three nations.
Indeed, he’s already played for Greek and Australian national teams. In 2014 he played twice for Greece at U 17 level against Turkey. He then represented Australia seven times at U 17 level including playing at the 2015 FIFA U 17’s World Cup in Chile where one of his team mates was a future Socceroo Daniel Arzani. Two appearances with the Olyroos followed in 2017. It’s believed Armanakas has expressed a preference to play for Australia.
