De Niese, 21, was the first Australian to be part of River Plate’s youth system and after six years with Los Millonarios ended up training with the reserve and first team squads.

However, without an Argentinian passport, the midfielder’s progress stalled so he came back home.

On his return to Australia, the former Springvale White Eagle junior spent six weeks trialling with Melbourne City’s NPL team but in April 2016 injury cruelled his chances of joining the A-League side.

After 10 months out, De Niese is back to full fitness and with talk of South Melbourne returning to the top tier of Australian football getting louder, there is a sense of anticipation at Lakeside.

“There is definitely a lot of hype around the club,” he said “I hope expansion really does happen not just for me but there are many footballers at South Melbourne that do want to become professional footballers.”

“South has a lot of potential to be in the A-League, they’ve got a great stadium and they have a lot of ambition. They are really professional about everything, they’ve got their physios, they’ve got everything at the club and it’s really well run and it’s a well-known club.”

De Niese was part of River Plate’s youth set up at the age of 14 and played over 60 youth team matches.

The athletic midfielder is keen to show the Australian public his South American upbringing.

“I haven’t played here since I was so young,” he said.  “I know people have heard of me and want to know how I play and want to come see me. “It’s my time to show people my football background. I am an Aussie but I just want to show that I’ve gained lot of experience from my time with River Plate.

“Because of my position with the way that I play in the middle it’s taught me how to knock the ball around, get players to come towards you, play long and play balls through and control the play. I’m more of a box to box midfielder, I try to get forward, I can score goals and I want to show my flair.”

While De Niese aims to put his ten month layoff behind him by getting regular football, being part of a championship team that then enters the A-League are also ambitions. 

“I just want to get back to playing 90 minutes that is one of my first goals,” he said. “Obviously South are quite known for winning things so it would be good to play in my first senior squad and get some silverware.

“If South are included in the A-League, I’d be more than happy to be playing with them in the A-League. It would be really good if that door was to open for all the players here.  South have the youth development system and if they were included the A-League you can play from the age of eight and make it as a professional footballer through the club.”