by JAKE NUTTING

A player with recent ties to the North American Soccer League and well-known to New York Cosmos owner Rocco B. Commisso is expected to join the club this week.

After reports from Europe that Amauri was nearing a deal with the Cosmos, the forward has arrived in the U.S. and has been training with the club. It is not a coincidence that the Cosmos have scheduled a news conference after Tuesday’s training session at Columbia University to announce the new signing. Commisso will be on hand.

Amauri, 36, spent the final few months of the 2016 NASL season with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers. His presence up top provided a spark for the financially challenged Strikers; he had 5 goals and 1 assist in just 13 appearances.

He scored on a sensational bicycle-kick goal in his third match with the Strikers.

Before moving to South Florida, Amauri was struggling to find the back of net in Italy. After bagging 18 goals in two seasons at Parma, he signed with Torino at the start of the 2014-15 season. The hulking forward only managed one goal in his first year with the team and was eventually dropped by the manager midway through his second year.

Amauri, a naturalized Italian citizen who was born in Brazil, has played for nine different Italian teams during his 17-year career. His was most productive during the 2007-8 Serie A season, when he scored 15 goals for Palermo.

That career-best season with Palermo brought a hefty transfer fee from Juventus the next year. He got off to hot start at Juventus with 11 goals in the first half of the season, but he lost his finishing touch and only managed one more goal after the break. The next year he scored only five goals, which lead to a loan to Parma during his third and final season under contract for Juventus.

Amauri’s experiences with the Old Lady are well known to Commisso, a lifelong Juventus fan. The club has captured the five straight Serie A championships since Amauri’s departure.