After a Socceroo training camp, U20 World Cup, and senior debut -- Esposito targets further opportunity
With an U20 World Cup and Socceroo training camp under his belt, Sebastian Esposito wasn't bereft of experience when he debuted for Melbourne Victory. But the defender knows there's plenty to come.
Watching Sebastian Esposito in action last weekend, helping to anchor the Melbourne Victory defence in their 0-0 draw with Auckland FC in the A-League Men’s opening round, one would have hardly guessed he was making his senior debut. But having already captained the Young Socceroos at the U20 World Cup and the Primevera side of Serie A outfit Lecce, as well as being brought into a Socceroo training camp by Tony Popovic, he wasn’t a completely callow debutant.
After Victory skipper Roderick Miranda was ruled out with injury the day prior, Esposito was given the nod by coach Arthur Diles to start against last year’s premiers and hardly put a foot wrong, keeping out an Auckland attack that, aside from a 29th-minute Jesse Randall attempt after the hosts failed to clear a corner, failed to create much in the way of anything.
“You wouldn’t expect him to be 20 years old,” Lachlan Jackson, who partnered Esposito in defence, said. “He carries himself like he’s got a decade of experience. And it really shows. It’s a credit to him. He’s done really well in preseason. And hope you can keep that run of form up.”
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Landing in Melbourne during the offseason on loan from Lecce, a move designed to both ensure his availability for the Young Socceroos’ U20 World Cup campaign and provide a clearer path to first-team football, this senior debut represented something of a full-circle moment for Esposito. A former Brunswick City junior, the 20-year-old grew up in Melbourne as a Victory fan and initially earned his move to Italy after coming through the Melbourne City academy.
And while he’d been on the bench for senior games at both City and Lecce – named on the teamsheet in fixtures against the likes of Inter Milan, Roma and Napoli with the latter – Saturday represented the first time he’d been able to actually get out on the grass, and he did it with friends and family watching on in the stands.
“Amazing to be out on AAMI Park and to be out there in front of the fans,” he reflected. “It’s something I dreamed of as a young boy, and happy to make my professional debut.
“The most important thing [returning to Melbourne] was playing at the [U20] World Cup and coming home to get senior football. For me, I just wanted to play.
“It’s an important step in my career to make sure I’m playing senior games consistently. So for me, it was a no-brainer when Melbourne came [calling]. I spoke with Dilla [Diles] and he told me exactly what his plans were. So, for me, it was the best step forward.”
A key figure in their Asian Cup triumph, Esposito played all three group stage games of the Young Socceroos’ World Cup campaign earlier this month, where defeats to Italy and Argentina (the latter of whom would make the final) in their first two games proved too insurmountable a barrier to their progression to the knockouts, despite a final game win over Cuba.
“It was a great experience to play the World Cup,” he said. “It’s always an unbelievable experience… to play against the quality opposition that we came up against. A lot to learn from the results that didn’t go our way and weren’t what we hoped for. But there’s still a lot of learning experience to take.”
Esposito’s time at the U20 World Cup followed his first exposure to the senior setup in May, when, alongside Western Sydney’s Alex Bonetig, he was drafted into a UAE-based training camp by Tony Popovic following the withdrawal of Nectarios Triantis, who would later switch his eligibility to Greece.
While a senior Socceroo call-up feels like it’s still a way off for the youngster, especially with Popovic’s focus increasingly narrowing in on his squad for next year’s World Cup, the opportunity to train with the likes of Cam Burgess, Alessandro Circati, Milos Degenek, and Jack Iredale was a valuable one in ensuring he may not have to wait as long as he otherwise might have.
“It was one of the best experiences of my career so far,” he said. “Being amongst the boys and seeing the level of professionalism and how well they’re playing at the moment. Seeing why they’re playing so good, because of how they work behind the scenes.
“For me, it was obviously important to be under the boss and to see how the boys work, and to learn from them. Because the standard of centre-backs, especially, is incredible to see and to learn from. That quality is an unbelievable experience.
“It’s honestly levelled up how I am off the pitch and how I’m at club level, because I know the expectation, what it is at that level, and what I need to achieve to play for the Socceroos and to look forward.”
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With Miranda unlikely to feature in Victory’s trip to face Newcastle, Diles describing the Portuguese defender as “touch and go” on Wednesday, Esposito is likely to get his second professional start on Friday night.
And the Victory boss, who helped the likes of Nishan Vellupilay, Daniel Arzani, and Ryan Teague all earn Socceroo caps last season, is a believer in the potential of his young defender.
“I’ve seen a talented young player with a very high ceiling,” Diles said. “But [he’s got] a lot of work to do. I believe it’s it was in his best interest to come to Melbourne Victory, to, one, try and get first team exposure to football, and, two, to keep developing.
“It’s not easy being overseas in big leagues, at clubs like that, where you’re on the periphery, and you don’t have a lot of opportunity to play. It’s quite difficult. We’ve seen many players in the same position.
“He’s someone that’s got a lot of ability, but a lot of improvements still in him, and a lot of stuff we need to work on. He’s a great signing for us, and one we’re putting a lot of time and effort into. And you know, when he plays really well, this team’s a lot stronger.”