Żabbar SP made me feel at the centre of their project, says new signing Fontanella

Mario Fontanella expressed his delight on joining Żabbar St Patrick and the prolific Italian forward said that he chose to move to the southern club because he felt that he was at the centre of their technical project.

On Wednesday morning, Fontanella signed his contract with Żabbar to all but seal his return to Maltese football

Fontanella is a household name in Maltese football following his highly-successful spells with Floriana and Valletta, where he won the FA Trophy with the Greens and the league title with Valletta, before he opted to continue his career in the Middle East, with his last club being Al Yarmouk in Kuwait.

However, last month he decided to return to play football in Europe and was keen on a return to Maltese football.

Żabbar St Patrick were among a number of clubs who were chasing his signature and the Italian forward told the Times of Malta that signing for Żabbar was his main priority as they made him feel as a central figure in their technical project.

“I am very happy to have signed for Żabbar St Patrick as they are a club that really showed that they really wanted me to be part of their team,” Fontanella told the Times of Malta.

“I would like to thank all the clubs that showed interest in me, but my target was to find a club where I was the centre of their project and that is what Żabbar offered me. I am reallhy grateful to the club president, Cameron Farrugia, Fabio Muscat and Luca Deguara, for making this move happen.

“I am very grateful for their faith and my promise is that I will do all I can to have a great season with them and help the club reach their objectives.”

The capture of Fontanella is a real statement of intent for Żabbar St Patrick who have been working really hard in the past few weeks to build a competitive squad for the new season.

The Saints have already secured a deal for young defender Zean Leonardi, Nicky Agus and Timothy Evi Parker.

The team is set to be again under the charge fo Aniello Parisi who last season turned the club’s fortunes as they helped them to secure their top-flight status despite a very difficult start of the campaign.

Parisi’s technical staff is set to include Matthew Caruana and Fatos Daja, as well as Andres Quiroga while they confirmed their former player Alex Camilleri as their new goalkeepers coach.

Żabbar have retained four overseas players from last season, namely the influential Brian Gambarte, Diogo Tavares, Strahinja Jovicic and Vinicius.

However, their transfer activity is far from over as they are looking to bring more young blood to the club.