I still lol at that description of Sarkies - guy was made out to be the next Beckham, turned out to be a pretty ordinary player who nailed one free kick in his entire career and was thus labelled a 'free kick specialist' for the rest of his career.

Highlight of Sarkies career right there in that photo

wow imagine if Hardy didn't have his injury issues.

who is the brunette girl in the background.

Pretty sure if an Australian youngster played regularly in the Serie A there would have been a huge fap fest back then as well. Problem is I don't think he ever got any playing time for Empoli. The only source that says otherwise is Wikipedia. Every other player database I've looked says he's only ever gotten game time in the A-league. Foxsports also had a little segment of Australian players who have played in the Serie A after Sainsbury's transfer and Giraldi's name was not mentioned.

Dez Geraldi definitely never made it onto a Serie A pitch. He may have played for Empoli's youth team though.

Serie A games at 19 - sounds like you're thinking of Johnny A.

Ya, you might be right. The edit originally was made by an IP from Queensland in 2009. The IP changed it from 3 caps to 23 and that has remained for the last 7-8 years untouched. Not even sure if the 3 caps he had for Empoli are correct. Google search of his name between 2003 and 2005 bring up nothing as well.

Looks like someone has updated this wiki page now ... has him listed as going on loan and playing for those clubs, but not Empoli now...

I did that since there is no source which confirms how many caps or goals he has for Empoli. I am tempted to do the same for the loan clubs as well but too lazy right now.