“It’s been 12 months of communication with the kid,” said Arnold. “He had two big decisions to make, whether it was Italy or Australia. 

 

“About two weeks ago he rang me up and said it was a great time to think about this big decision for a young kid and he said he wants to play for Australia. His heart has told him and he believes that he wants to play for Australia. His passion straight away to come in was great. 

 

“I said I’d put him in this camp, are you ready? And he said 100 percent and it’s great to get him onboard.

"As you can see, it’s a younger squad but I obviously have one eye on the World Cup in 2026 and getting players ready for that. 

 

“I don’t think there’s a better way to test them out than against the world champions. Having Alessandro in camp with us will be fantastic.”

Circati was born in Italy but moved to Perth at a young age and came through the youth system at Perth Glory before joining Parma, where he played 14 times in the just-completed Serie B season, in 2021.

 

He joins a squad that features a raft of changes from the one that represented Australia in a pair of games against Ecuador in March, with injuries at the end of a challenging season in both Europe and Australia impacting upon the squad.

 

Aziz Behich, Jason Cummings, Milos Degenek, Craig Goodwin, Jackson Irvine, Aaron Mooy, and Bailey Wright are among those to be ruled out but Arnold is relishing going head-to-head once against with Argentina following their clash at the FIFA World Cup.

Argentina won the encounter in the last 16 in December thanks to goals from Lionel Messi and Julian Alvarez, although an own goal from Enzo Fernandez gave the Socceroos hope of taking the game into extra-time.

 

“It’s a fantastic opportunity for all of us,” Arnold said. “The fact we’re playing the world champions straight after a World Cup is a one-off. I don’t think it’s ever happened before for the Socceroos and Argentina had a big role to play in that. 

 

“When I met (Argentina coach Lionel) Scaloni at the World Cup coaches review and how impressed he was with us, it was pretty much their choice. Because we hadn’t lined up a game in June at that stage, they helped chose us. 

 

“It’s a fantastic opportunity for us to get out there and give it everything we’ve got. These young boys will bring energy galore and I can’t wait.”

Arnold is hoping his younger players can take advantage of the opportunity to provide the Socceroos with greater depth as they prepare for the start of qualifying for the FIFA World Cup in 2026 and the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023™ Finals next year.

 

“We want to do better than we did against Ecuador,” he said. “In three halves out of the four we were very good. It’s about bringing these kids into the environment. Unless you give them these opportunities in life you never know what will happen. 

 

“It’s about improving the team and the depth of the team and we’ve got the World Cup qualifiers starting in November. We’ve got to get on with this as quickly as we can and create the depth.”