Adelaide City sign Italian striker Emanuele Pappalardo for rest of Premier League season

A DECADE after Claudio Pelosi left Adelaide City, the popular Italian has played a key role in the Oakden club's latest overseas signing.

UNTIL a fortnight ago, one of the last players Adelaide City Soccer Club signed directly from overseas was Italian striker Claudio Pelosi in the late 1990s.

A decade after he left City, Pelosi has helped the Oakden club recruit another Italian forward for the remainder of the SA Premier League season.

Emanuele Pappalardo, 26, was a teammate of Pelosi for two years at fifth-tier Italian club Cantu.

They often spoke about playing opportunities in Australia, even after going separate ways.

Pelosi - recommended to City by an Italian agent - is now a youth team coach in Italy, while Pappalardo most recently played for third-tier club Galbiatese Aggiono.

"Claudio said to me 'do you want to experience playing in Australia?'," Pappalardo says, through an interpreter.

"He spoke to me in the years we played together about Adelaide and I was always inquisitive to find out more about that and whether it would open up doors here.

"I thought it was a good experience to go through and I decided to come.

"I've found Adelaide City to be well organised and trainings have been well organised and quite competitive."

The stint is Pappalardo's first playing overseas.

He scored and was named second-best in City's 3-0 win over Adelaide Comets on Friday night.

"Soccer is soccer," he says.

"Here it's a bit more physical, in Italy it's a bit more technical.

"But so far, so good."

Pappalardo hopes to win the title with Adelaide City, which sits fourth on the table with five minor rounds remaining before finals.

City has made the past five grand finals.