Roma's Daniel De Silva: Wonderkid Dives into Serie A Deep End

Australian central attacking midfielder/left-winger Daniel De Silva, 18, is farewelling Perth Glory in his endeavours to make the grade at Roma.

Here is a review of De Silva's tenure at Perth Glory for Roma fans.

#NOTGIVINGIN

Standing next to Perth Glory legend Bobby Despotovski, De Silva was presented to the media as a 15-year-old prodigy.

The inference being De Silva was going to bring as much joy to Perth Glory as Despotovski once did.

"As soon as the opportunity arrived to play for Perth Glory, why would you pass it up?" De Silva said, per Perth Glory's website. "It's a great football club and a positive environment to benefit my career."

Although diminutive in stature, De Silva's talent is gargantuan, as evidenced with his flicking the ball up and placing it beyond Liam Reddy in Perth Glory's 4-1 win over the Central Coast Mariners.

De Silva is a class act, so here is what he won't say about Perth Glory—the club did not fully maximise his European-standard ability.

During the 2013/14 season, Perth Glory manager Kenny Lowe sat De Silva out for periods of the season.

"[De Silva] continues to show glimpses of class at training," per Shayne Hope at The West Australian. "But [he] is understood to have become frustrated at the lack of opportunities at A-League level."

Lowe was succeeding Alistair Edwards, whose short-lived reign provided De Silva with an introduction to footballing politics.

Edwards was allowed to sign sons Cameron and Ryan.

Amid allegations of nepotism, Edwards was sacked after a "massive falling-out between him and a number of senior players, including [then-captain] Jacob Burns," per Ray Gatt at The Australian.

Last season, De Silva's playing time improved under Lowe, averaging 60.6 minutes per game and appearing in 66.7 per cent of the A-League campaign.

Lowe should have given a free-roaming, No. 10 role to De Silva rather than playing him out wide.

However, Perth Glory became title contenders under Lowe, so he was not going to adjust the team solely to get the best out of De Silva.

It was up to De Silva to alter his playing style to meet what Lowe wanted.

"[De Silva] hasn't been around so much I forgot what he looked like. He's been away with international duty that much," Lowe said, per Ben Somerford at FourFourTwo. "He's still young. He's got to be protected."

Lowe seemed to imply he did not want De Silva to be picked for the Asian Cup, which Australia won.

"Do you want [De Silva] to go there and run the show and be the man?" Lowe said, per Michael Washbourne at Sportal. "Not going to happen—he's not ready."

It appeared Lowe had yet to hop on the De Silva hype train. 

Lowe's opinion mirrored that of the FIFA Technical Study Group. 

Despite being the youngest player at the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup and scoring against Colombia, the FTSG omitted De Silva from its list of key players.

There were no fewer than 55 players selected ahead of De Silva, per FIFA's website.

---

1. Abbosbek Makhstaliev (Uzbekistan).
2. Abdul Jeleel Ajagun (Nigeria).
3. Abdul Rahman Baba (Ghana).
4. Adama Niane (Mali).
5. Ali Adnan (Iraq).
6. Alphonse Areola (France).
7. Andreas Bouchalakis (Greece).
8. Ante Rebic (Croatia).
9. Bruma (Portugal).
10. Bryan Rabello (Chile).
11. Cameron Howieson (New Zealand).
12. Clifford Aboagye (Ghana).
13. Daniel Luis (Cuba).
14. Derlis Gonzalez (Paraguay).
15. Diego Morel (Paraguay).
16. Ebenezer Assifuah (Ghana).
17. Farhan Shakor (Iraq).
18. Florian Thauvin (France).
19. Frank Acheampong (Ghana).
20. Gaston Silva (Uruguay).
21. Geoffrey Kondogbia (France).
22. Gerard Deulofeu (Spain).
23. Giorgian De Arrascaeta (Uruguay).
24. Guillermo de Amores (Uruguay).
25. Hakan Calhanoglu (Turkey).
26. Humam Tariq (Iraq).
27. Igor Sergeev (Uzbekistan).
28. Jairo Henriquez (El Salvador).
29. Jamshid Iskanderov (Uzbekistan).
30. Jese Rodriguez (Spain).
31. Jesus Corona (Mexico).
32. Jhon Cordoba (Colombia).
33. Joao Mario (Portugal).
34. Jonathan Espericueta (Mexico).
35. Jorge Rojas (Paraguay).
36. Jose Pena (El Salvador).
37. Joshua Brillante (Australia).
38. Juan Quintero (Colombia).
39. Kostas Stafylidis (Greece).
40. Kwon Chang-hoon (South Korea).
41. Luis Gil (United States).
42. Mahdi Kamil (Iraq).
43. Mahmoud Kahraba (Egypt).
44. Marko Livaja (Croatia).
45. Nicolas Castillo (Chile).
46. Nicolas Lopez (Uruguay).
47. Nicolas Maturana (Chile).
48. Olarenwaju Kayode (Nigeria).
49. Oliver Torres (Spain).
50. Paul Pogba (France).
51. Ross Barkley (England).
52. Ryu Seung-woo (South Korea).
53. Salih Ucan (Turkey).
54. Song Joo-hoon (South Korea).
55. Trezeguet (Egypt).

Bold denotes footballers either currently playing with or their rights are owned by clubs in the Bundesliga, Eredivisie, La Liga, Ligue 1, Premier League or Serie A.

---

In back-to-back seasons, Perth Glory became an unstable environment for De Silva.

Jason Brewer resigned from his position as Perth Glory's chief executive officer having admitted "full responsibility" for the club's breaching of the salary cap, per Sky News.

It was a desperate ploy from Brewer to give Perth Glory an illegal financial advantage to win the A-League, which led to the club being banned from the finals, per Football Federation Australia's website.

The "positive environment" De Silva yearned for was more likely to be found at church than Perth Glory.

"Football is very important to me, but also God is very important to me as well," De Silva said, per Peter Vlahos at 7 News Perth (h/t Perth Glory's website). "The balance of that is really good and helps me stay humble."

Christianity and great parents—Rodney and Tanya—is why De Silva accepted the hand he was dealt at Perth Glory, a club that does not have a recent reputable track record of developing youth players.

Failing to convince Adam Taggart, Eli Babalj and Trent Sainsbury to stay in Western Australia is emblematic of Perth Glory mishandling their youth prospects—all three are now in Europe.

Playing in Australia was not plan A for De Silva.

"I have been over to Everton and they offered me a contract," De Silva said, per Ryan Daniels at 7 News Perth. "But I was unlucky that I couldn't get a visa there, so I'm going to have to wait until I am 18 [years old]."

Signing De Silva was a coup for Perth Glory owner Tony Sage, a mining entrepreneur, who knew he was sitting on a goldmine.

The goldmine being De Silva, who would currently be playing alongside Jonjoe Kenny and Ryan Ledson as one of Everton's young guns if not for visa complications.

Everton were not the only top-flight European club enamoured with De Silva's world-class upside.

"Roma was the club that took action in trying to get me," De Silva said, per Braden Quartermaine at Perth Now. "I prayed, spoke to my family about it and in the end I was really happy with the choice."

Sage received $500,000 up front (€338,753/£279,200) from Roma with bonuses potentially reaching $2.5 million (€1.7/£1.4 million), per Shayne Hope at The West Australian.

Perth Glory gained more from De Silva than he did from the club.

'I Can Do All Things Through Christ Who Strengthens Me.'—Philippians 4:13

It's a bright day in Perth. Two National Training Centre team-mates are playing keepy uppy.

Jack Iredale and De Silva outline their aspirations to Peter Kapsanis at Football West TV's Football 360.

Iredale wants to make a living from football and is inspired by Gareth Bale. 

De Silva talks about his growth at the NTC and the enjoyment of representing Australia at youth level.

Three years later, Iredale is rehabilitating from a third anterior cruciate ligament tear while De Silva is heading to Rome.

A footballing career can irreparably change for the worse with one wrong step, as former Perth Glory wonderkid Ivan Ergic will tell you.

"It is the dream of millions of young soccer players to play alongside Zinedine Zidane," then-19-year-old Ergic said upon signing a four-year contract with Juventus in 2000, per BBC Sport. "They are probably the best club in the world so I couldn't say no."

It was too much for Ergic.

"I've had great experiences and I've had not so great experiences with the injuries and the [mental illness]," Ergic said on Football West TV's Football 360. "That is the other side of professional football, which is not so glamorous."

"Being in the soccer circle for so long, I've seen a lot of broken hearts for young people," De Silva's father, Rodney, said, per a Mark Readings Today Tonight report. "[They have] tried to overstep their boundaries."

Only time will tell if De Silva has overstepped his boundary by becoming a Roma player.

+allanjiang.

When not specified, statistics via WhoScored.com.