James Robert Virgili (born 8 July 1992) is an Australian retired professional
soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
player who last played for
Newcastle Jets
Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from the Australi ...
in the
A-League
A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...
.
Newcastle Jets
On 4 January 2009, he made his senior debut as a substitute against
Wellington Phoenix
Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League Men, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the 2007–08 ...
. This also made him the youngest player in A-League history to make his debut at 16 years and 180 days. Virgili broke into the first team in the 2012/13 Hyundai A-League season. He became a regular starter known for his high speed and his ability to get past players with his dribbling and ball control. This benefited teammates such as strikers
Emile Heskey
Emile William Ivanhoe Heskey (born 11 January 1978) is an English former professional footballer who currently serves as head of football development of Leicester City Women. Playing as a striker, he made more than 500 appearances in the Foo ...
and
Ryan Griffiths Ryan Griffiths may refer to:
* Ryan Griffiths (guitarist) (born 1978), Australian guitarist
* Ryan Griffiths (soccer) (born 1981), Australian footballer
{{Hndis, Griffiths, Ryan ...
.
Virgili was given a trial at Scottish Club
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foot ...
, it was revealed that Celtic were keeping tabs on the young Australian.
Virgili was released at the end of the 2014/2015 season following a broken ankle sustained in training.
Career Statistics
References
External links
Newcastle Jets profileAOC Youth Olympic Festival profile
1992 births
Living people
Australian men's soccer players
A-League Men players
National Premier Leagues players
Newcastle Jets FC players
Australian people of Italian descent
Sportspeople of Italian descent
Soccer players from Newcastle, New South Wales
New South Wales Institute of Sport alumni
Men's association football wingers
Broadmeadow Magic FC players
Lambton Jaffas FC players
21st-century Australian sportsmen
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