Article reproduced by kind permission from The Belfast Telegraph

Zarelli brings italian flavour to the Whites

'Z-Z-Zarelli?..' you can imagine the inimitable Jackie Fullerton having a field day getting his tongue around this one.

Alessandro Zarelli is the young man in question and he arrived in Northern Ireland recently to join up with Lisburn Distillery for the remainder of the season.

Alessandro joins the Whites under a 'collaboration scheme' operated by the Italian Football Federation (IFF).

It's essentially a developmental scheme for young players and the IFF uses it to bring young players on in the game, giving them an experience in playing abroad at the same time.

The good news for the Whites is that the IFF funds the entire venture.

And already Alessandro is learning about life in Lisburn.

Club secretary Andrew Thompson has wasted no time on his educational studies.

As the 20-year old midfielder explained: "Andrew has given me 'The Whites ? a history of Distillery Football Club' to read so I am already getting to know a little about the club.

"Mr Kirk also explained things about the club and I am happy to be here.

"In the autumn Signor Colobase (the Head of Italian Youth Football Schemes) explained how the collaboration scheme would work and I agreed to come here."

Although he comes from Turin, his allegiances lie with Inter Milan and not his home clubs of Juventus or Torino.

There is no language barrier for Alessandro, his command of English is very good, but that should come as no surprise.

He says: "In the summer of 2001 I played at Glasgow Rangers, but at 16 years of age I got very homesick and my parents felt I was too young at that stage to be away so I went home after three months.

"I then completed my educational studies before going to Sheffield Wednesday in 2003 but I was only there for four months during which time I broke my leg and that finished my time at Hillsborough.

"Back in Italy, I played for AC Asti up until December, they are a semi-professional team this season and the standard would be the same as the Nationwide Conference.

"I am looking forward to my time here and I will do my best to become a better player and at the same time I hope to do good things for the club."

Kirk will give the youngster the chance to build his fitness up in several forthcoming re-arranged second team games before he comes into contention for a first team place.