A bonus to Perth if it happens. Overhyped player from cashed up family. The truth is he holidayed overseas Lazio did not rate him. Big investment from family promoting him at every opportunity. A great example of the broken system where money trumps talent and players like this are glorified as our future when the reality is they are average. The number of articles on this player do not reflect his ability. His marketing team deserve a medal as they got him selected in the Socceroos. Time to promote the truth if our league is ever going to progress. Stop recycling and hyping average talent.

I thought he was one of the best players in the league last season 

Whoever MT is, he/she signed up just to post that.

Guessing a family member of Chris blew their load in your Mrs.

What a strange, ill-informed and biased comment. I’m sorry that you weren’t having a happy day when you posted that comment.

considering he played a handful of games for Lazio, was solid in Serie B, played ok for WSW, was a key player for Perth last season and was one of Australia’s positives in a very disappointing Asian Cup, I’d say that he’s more than just a rich kid who always got lucky. Most A-League teams would significantly improve if they signed him. 

I hope you become a fan of his eventually :) 

You may say it is uninformed but the reality is so many players are going overseas and then coming back and inflating their credentials. He never played for Lazio he played in their youth academy system. Ask yourself how a boy like this gets an opportunity over all the talented Italian youth. Why choose a foreign player to develop above a local. There’s only one answer my friend - money! The overhype around this player led to Ange selecting him for Socceroos yet he never played a senior game. The system is broken and many are following a similar path to ikon. They disappear come back after a few years throw some club names around like Lazio club Brugge etc the media jump on it and suddenly these kids are deemed good players when all they have is average ability and wealthy parents. The clubs overseas are not interested in our players unless their is quick cash to be made. They have plenty talent if their own. He with the deepest pockets achieves the most success in Australian football. Everyone involved in football knows what is going on just no one has the balls to expose it.

again you're overlooking the fact that a. he was close to Lazio's best player in the primavera scoring and assisting a bucketload and b. he was close to the best player at wsw when he played there, and c. he was close to the best soceroo during the asian cup. Strange post...

except he wasnt.... Keita Balde was.... thats why he worth 20m now and at Monaco...

Also his mate... Tounkara got a run before chris did in the first team... that guys plays in Serie C now... so no he wasnt even good at youth level.