Juventus Signs Ergic to Four-Year Deal
Copyright � 2000 Nando Media
Copyright � 2000 Agence France-Presse
PERTH, Australia (July 10, 2000 12:12 p.m. EDT http://www.sportserver.com) - Australian teenage star Ivan Ergic has signed a four-year deal with Italian Serie A giants Juventus for 1.6 million dollars ($950,000 US).
The Perth Glory midfielder has spent the last two weeks in Italy as a guest of the club.
He returned to Perth to inform the Glory of his decision.
Ergic had been considering Glory's German coach Bernd Stange's advice to play another season in Australia's national Soccer League before heading to Europe, but the lure of playing for Juventus proved too great.
"It's a dream come true, they are probably the best club in the world so I couldn't say no," Ergic said Monday.
"It is the dream of millions of young soccer players to play alongside champions such as Zinedine Zidane."
Ergic confirmed he had knocked back several more lucrative offers to sign with Juventus, including one from Stange's former German club Hertha Berlin.
Ergic will start his European career on loan to Swiss club FC Basel, but hopes to break into the Juventus top side in the next two years.
His commitments with FC Basel begin next week forcing him to miss the opening training camps for the Australian Olympic team, but he believes he will be free to return to training camps in August.
