Cassio commits to Reds

[Spiro]

http://www.adelaideunited.com.au/defaul ... y&id=37152

Thursday, 2 December 2010

Adelaide United FC’s star Brazilian Cassio will remain a Red after officially signing a new two year deal with the club.

With Cassio’s previous contract set to expire at the end of the current season, the left back rejected a host of offers from other clubs to stay in Adelaide until 2013.

Having spent weeks contemplating his future, the new deal ends speculation about Cassio’s immediate future, the 30 year old stating the decision to continue with Adelaide United was, in the end, an easy one.

“I feel very good and very happy with this deal. My decision wasn’t so hard because since I arrived here I have felt at home,” Cassio said.

“The supporters, the club, my teammates, the new owners and the Adelaide people made my decision easy with how they have treated me, so that’s why I chose to stay here.”

Adelaide United’s Club Champion of 2007/08 admits he is relieved to have the contract negotiations out of the way, allowing him to now focus solely on matters on the field and help Adelaide United achieve success.

“I was nearly going crazy in the last two or three weeks because there were agents calling me from everywhere and in the end I have to perform well, play good and concentrate on my game, and now that it is all sorted out, it makes me feel happy and this is what I want,” Cassio said.

The smiling Brazilian with a lethal left foot has scored six goals in 68 Hyundai A-League appearances to date, the pocket rocket playing a total of 93 matches (scoring 10 goals) for the Reds in all competitions since he first signed with the club in June 2007.

Cassio has only missed one game this season due to suspension, and while he may be heading into the second decade of his professional career, in an ominous warning to opposition teams, he believes his best football is still to come. The way he has been playing this season, it is hard to not to agree.

“I’m 30 years old at the moment and to be honest I feel much better physically than when I was 20. Don’t ask me why, but I feel more confident, and after you get experience, you know where to run and you get smarter,” Cassio said.

“Football is my life and I know I have to keep performing well, playing good and giving Adelaide my best. This season has been great for me and I hope the next two can be even better.”

Securing Cassio’s services was high on the list of priorities for Head Coach Rini Coolen, the Dutchman revealing his is also currently in negotiations with the other players on United’s list who are set to come out of contract at the end of the season.

“We had chats with him (Cassio) a few weeks ago and told him we prefer to keep him, but at that moment we couldn’t give him a contract directly, so we had to wait for a couple of weeks, but that was fine because he was not in a rush,” Coolen said.

“He is probably the best left full back in the league so we are happy that we are able to keep him here.”

“In this period with contracts not everybody knows exactly what is going to happen in the future. We have already spoken with all of the players and now we are starting to go for the second and third discussions with contracts.”

Cassio and the Reds fly out for Christchurch tomorrow afternoon ahead of their match against the Wellington Phoenix on Sunday. Kick-Off is at 2.30pm (ACDT).

[King_Billy]

Awesome

[double07]

Great news. Is having a great season, an important player for us.

[flavze]

pretty happy with that, has been great this season. With the young guy from melbourne as cover next season we should be fairly well covered at LB.

[shinAUFC]

Probably this clubs first player who will be elevated to legend status in years to come, although eugene may have something to say about that.

The beauty of it is, he is looking to naturalise so thats an extra visa spot available

[Agostinho]

Probably this clubs first player who will be elevated to legend status in years to come

Carl Veart says STFU

[Stuckey]

Probably this clubs first player who will be elevated to legend status in years to come, although eugene may have something to say about that.

The beauty of it is, he is looking to naturalise so thats an extra visa spot available

How far away is that?

And will it actually happen?

Great news though!

[shinAUFC]

well there has been talk of it in the paper, i think he can naturalise after being here for 3 years.

But in ACL he would need to be here for 5 years, im not sure what the rulings are.

im sure someone here may know

[Legoman_Carl]

Probably this clubs first player who will be elevated to legend status in years to come

Carl Veart says STFU

[King_Billy]

Probably this clubs first player who will be elevated to legend status in years to come

Carl Veart says STFU

Pretty sure our home grown Travis Dodd may be in front of him too.

[General Ashnak]

Probably this clubs first player who will be elevated to legend status in years to come

Carl Veart says STFU

Pretty sure our home grown Travis Dodd may be in front of him too.

I have a bit of a soft spot for Qu...

But stoked that the best midget on our books is sticking around for a couple more season!

[MartinAUFC]

Richie Alagich would be in my AU Hall of Fame.

[RedsUnited]

Now that we've tied Cassio down, hopefully he can talk to his buddy Marcos and tell him the reasons why he's staying.

[Hamaldinho]

Richie Alagich would be in my AU Hall of Fame.

Me too, was one of my favourite players for years.

[Nash]

oh lord... i sense an early Adelaide United's Greatest XI thread for the new site :s lol

this news is great news to me. i spoke about it on AdelaideReds earlier in the year - i really hope King Cassio sticks around at the club well past playing retirement. would love to see him get involved with the youth team, in some shape or form. i'm not thinking in a coaching role, at least not head coach, but as a mentor. creating a real Adelaide United culture for the future, let the past legends teach the new kids the AU spirit and AU way.

this man loves this club, and this club loves him!