WHILE Melbourne Victory were infamously torn at Harry Kewell's decision to use his own personal trainer outside the club's parameters, there won't be any such problems for Alessandro Del Piero.
His personal trainer, Giovanni Buonocore, will join Sydney FC staff this week and is expected to integrate into the club's highly regarded conditioning program.
While Buonocore will work extensively with Del Piero it is not known how much work he will undertake with other players, though he is expected to take direction from high performance chief Craig Duncan and club physiotherapist Stan Ivancic.
Appreciating that Del Piero had his own specific requirements, Sydney decided it would make more sense to formalise the arrangement rather than doing as Melbourne did when Kewell hired former Argentinian legend Abel Balbo as his "personal coach" without the club's permission.
Buonocore arrived last Friday and joined Del Piero yesterday to discuss training plans. Del Piero's first formal session is with Sydney FC tomorrow at Allianz Stadium.
The rest of Del Piero's entourage is impressive, starting with his family. Along with his wife of 13 years, Sonia Amoruso, the couple have three children under the age of five, son Tobias (born in 2007), daughter Dorotea (born in 2009) and son Sasha (born in 2010).
His brother, agent and business manager, Stefano – who played the key role from the player's side in making the transfer a reality – is arriving next weekend, though it is not thought that he will be moving to Australia.
At least one nanny has travelled with them from Italy and it is thought they will appoint another to help the children speak English.
The agent who first raised the possibility of a deal, Melbourne's Lou Sticca, will also spend increasing time in Sydney as he is fluent in Italian – as is Sydney's chief executive, Tony Pignata.
Yesterday's arrival of Del Piero at Sydney Airport was watched over the internet by the Sky Blues' squad before their match against Brisbane Roar in Mackay.
However, the side were perhaps a little distracted by the unfolding circus – they were beaten 5-1 by the Roar but at least fielded a largely experimental squad after half-time.
After Mitch Mallia scored his third pre-season goal on the brink of half-time, Brisbane scored four of their goals in the second half to ease to a comfortable win.
Former Sydney defender Matt Jurman ended the nightmare for Sydney goalkeeper Vedran Janjetovic with with a well-taken goal eight minutes from time.
Janjetovic gave away a penalty in the 75th minute when he brought down Erik Paartalu but nearly redeemed himself by saving Paartalu's spot kick, only for the Roar midfielder to tap home the rebound.
In perhaps the only positive of the game, the Sky Blues' Australian marquee, Brett Emerton, played the opening 45 minutes as he continued his return from ankle surgery during the off-season.