At just 21, the young man with the brilliant name has signed a four-year deal with Italian Serie A heavyweights Fiorentina.

Brillante has already made an impression ahead of the Italian season, scoring on the Viola’s tour of South America and playing the last 25 minutes of his club’s 2-1 win over Spanish giants Real Madrid in a weekend friendly in Warsaw.

Such dizzy heights are a long way from his days of playing junior football for Across The Waves in Bundaberg.

But Brillante’s proud father Giannino knew from his son’s early age and promise that there was never going to be any stopping Josh in his quest to make a name for himself in the cut-throat world of football.

“He was always a little bit special from when he first started playing, and once he got to nine, we knew this kid had something special,” said Giannino, who coached Josh during the infant stages of his career.

“I then took the step of playing him a couple of years up above his age, to put pressure on him and make him work.

“Everyone thought I was crazy and not doing the right thing by him, and that he could get hurt.

“But he stepped up, and did that all his junior life.”

However, it’s not just Brillante’s talent that led him to the big stage.

His temperament, thanks largely to his dedication and upbringing, has also played a significant role in his success.

One of four children, Brillante has never had anything spoon-fed to him.

“He’s done it tough from day one – that’s why he’s sure mature for his age,” Giannino said.

“That’s why I’m so happy for him to get where he is now, because basically he’s done everything on his own.”

Having played State League football for Bundaberg at just 15, Brillante soon headed to Brisbane to further his career at the Queensland Academy of Sport.

“I’d been talking to Josh about having to leave Bundy at some stage if he wanted to pursue his dream,” Giannino said.

“I said to him `we’ve got three other children, we can’t just pack up the whole family and go’, as much as we would have liked to.

“I’m so proud of him. It’s just amazing how he’s done it. It shows if you want it enough, you’ll put yourself through a bit of pain to get it.”

That pain included daily 8km runs during his early teenage years.

“I’d be on the pushbike, he’d be running. He did that every day until he left (Bundaberg),” Giannino said.

“He’s got a big engine. Fiorentina are seeing that he is very fit.”

Giannino is not the only one proud of Josh.

The rest of the Brillante family, including his mother Theresa and siblings, Bridgette, Jack, and Jacob, have just as must pride in the exploits of the former Gold Coast United and Newcastle Jets star.

“You won’t get any bigger fans of Josh’s than his brothers and sister,” Giannino said.

“For the past five or six years everything revolved around Josh in getting together, for things like Christmas but they always made the effort to make sure they were always with Josh at important times of his life.”

Josh told The Courier-Mail from Florence that he was looking forward to his family visiting him in Italy in the not-too-distant future.

“They were all very excited and happy for me when I made the move here,” he said.

“They can now come over to Italy for a holiday and have a visit.”

One family member who would be the first on the plane if he were still alive to see Josh would be his late grandfather Mario, who despite moving from Italy to Australia several years ago maintained his Italian citizenship.

“It’s unfortunate he’s not here to see this all happen for me,” Josh said.

Giannino echoed his son’s sentiments as he reflected on his father’s passing.

“It’s such a shame that he’s missing out on all of this,” Giannino said

“I can imagine that he’d be there with him. He would have followed him over there straight away.

“Our whole family migrated to Australia from Italy and our name was lost over there.

“As my uncle has said, finally we’ve got someone to take our name back to Italy and get our name back out there in Italy.”