EASTERN United stopper Franz Pjetri says rejection from the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) fuelled his hunger to win an incredible contract with Italian Serie A club Udinese.

Pjetri, 16, is now waiting for a FIFA international transfer certificate before he can play his first game for his new club, which also houses 18-year-old Aussie wonderkid Panagiotis Armenakas.

Armenakas sat on the bench during Udinese’s 1-0 Serie A loss to Sassuolo last weekend.

Pjetri was born in Parma, Italy, and was a student at Norwood Morialta High School.

Pjetri, 192cm tall, said he called former Parma stopper and current Eastern United technical director Diego Pellegrini looking for expert advice when hopes of winning an AIS scholarship disappeared, before his family explored a move back to Italy.

“The thing is I went to the nationals last year, there was contracts for the Joeys (AIS) up and I didn’t get one so I had nothing left here,’’ Pjetri said from Udine.

“I had a dream of going back to Italy after they (AIS) didn’t want me after I moved to Adelaide with my parents in 2010.

“I called up Diego Pellegrini who was really interested in helping me develop and I started working with him.

“I played first team for Eastern United, Diego wanted me to get experience so when I got to Italy I could do well for a kid my age.”

Pjetri also impressed AS Roma during a trial, attracting interest from boss Luciano Spalletti. But it was Udinese which presented a contract last week.

The club is owned by the Pozzo family, which also owns English Premier League club Watford and also Granada before offloading the Spanish club this year.

Pjetri, who also has a choice of playing international soccer for three countries (Italy, Australia and Albania), says Udinese is also making sure he is well educated.

“I go to school here from about 8.30 and finish at about 1pm and sometimes 11am,’’ he said.

“I then go training every day from 3pm except one day a week.

“It’s great here, the club is amazing, the facilities are unbelievable and I was also glad to meet Panagiotis (Armenakas).

“He is doing really well here.

“But I’m living here with my mum Tina and my sister Jessica, I can speak Italian and my father Petrit and my brother Denis, who goes to Norwood Morialta, is looking at trialling in Italy.

“We’re all expecting to be together in Italy in December.”

Pellegrini said he was proud of Pjetri’s persistence claiming the teenager arrived at Eastern United upbeat knowing hard work would take him to another level.

“Franz came to us in December 2015 asking if we could help him improve as a football player,’’ Pellegrini said.

“We loved working with him and in eight months we have made significant steps forward.

“He still needs a bit of work but I am sure that environment will help in that regards.

“He is a great guy and has huge potential as football player.”

