A-League club accused of lying about star player's injury status in attempt to cover up contract dispute

Drama has unfolded at Perth Glory after star player Bruno Fornaroli refuted claims from the club that he missed the weekend’s fixture against Central Coast because of an injury.

Since the fixture further details have also emerged that the club is keeping the player away from game time due to a clause in his contract that would see an automatic renewal.

Perth Glory had announced their lineup for the game on Sunday (October 23) with the glaring omission of the Uruguayan.

They commented on social media: “Bruno is out due to injury.”

The player retorted in a tongue-in-cheek manner, commenting: “I’m 100 per cent fit and ready Perth Glory. Wrong information.”

The comment had since been deleted, however, it led to rumours of trouble in paradise between the player and the Perth club.

Football reporter Tom Williams has since reported that there may be a cheeky reason as to why Perth isn’t using their star man.

According to Williams, it has nothing to do with an injury, and that forward is perfectly fit to play, but his absence stems from a dispute with the club.

A clause in Fornaroli’s contract states that if he were to score 15 goals across last season and the current season his contract would be automatically renewed.

The number nine scored eight goals last season, meaning he would only have to net seven more over the course of this season to be entitled to renewal.

Glory doesn’t want that clause to be activated as they don’t want to keep splashing the cash for Fornaroli’s lucrative wages.

As a result, he is being left out of the team.

Fornaroli scored eight goals last season meaning that he would only require seven this season to be entitled to a renewal.

Perth do not want to renew his lucrative wages and naturally that is why he is being left out of the team. His relationship with the club is fractured.

— Tom Williams (@TomWilliamsPol) October 23, 2022

And clearly, Fornaroli isn’t too pleased with it either as per his response on the club’s Instagram.

Perth Glory coach Ruben Zadkovich pleaded ignorance of the situation and insisted Fornaroli was in fact injured.

He told reporters after the game: “He was just unavailable.

“He ruled himself out with a rib injury on Friday, so couldn’t finish the final session, which meant that he wasn’t available for selection.

“So there’s not really much going on there.”

Adding: “To be honest, I’m not sure (what the situation is). Who knows, social media - his account could have got hacked for all we know.

“So I can’t really comment, I haven’t seen those comments but all I know is that I picked a squad that was available and they went out there and did the job.”

Perth Glory went on to win the game 2-1 against the Mariners thanks to goals from Giordano Colli and Aaron McEneff.