Former Dundee defender turned agent Di Marchi backs his man Toni

STEVEN TWEED catches up with an old Dundee team-mate who has more than a passing interest in Euro 2008

ASK anyone for a link between the administration-in-waiting Dundee side of a few years ago and an Italian international striker, and the answer you will get nine times out of ten is "Fabrizio Ravanelli".

The White Feather played five games for the Dens Park team when the Ivano Bonetti era saw the most unlikely of imports arrive at a club living way beyond its means. Did the Argentine striker Claudio Caniggia really strut his World Cup skills in training each day on a public park in Dundee? It's hard to imagine now, but it happened.

One of the other glamorous buys of that reckless and ruinous period was Marco di Marchi, who fans will remember as a skilful defender who arrived from Dutch side Vitesse Arnhem but fell foul of the club during a contract dispute.

He has rarely been heard of since then, having retired from the game after leaving Dundee. But his career in the game has taken off in a new direction, as an agent. And this is how Ravanelli is not the only player to link that ill-fated Dundee side with an Italian striker, because Di Marchi now represents Luca Toni, one of the deadliest players in Europe this past season with Bayern Munich and Italy.

So how did a former Dundee player end up steering the career of one of the game's hottest properties? The link is not as obscure as it might at first seem.

Di Marchi may not have had a successful time at Dens, but before that he had enjoyed an illustrious career, collecting a Uefa Cup winner's medal with Juventus in 1993. During his playing career he was represented by the well-known Technosport agency, for whom he now works.

As well as Toni, Di Marchi represents Italian dead-ball specialist Andrea Pirlo and a host of other internationals. He is in charge of international transfers for his organisation, where the five languages he acquired on his travels prove their worth. Last week he was in Manchester for a meeting with Mark Hughes to find out if the new City manager wishes to hold on to Rolando Bianchi as a clutch of big Italian teams seek to acquire the player's services.

But it is the prolific Toni who catches the eye on his list of clients. "Luca's power is that he enjoys the life very much, all the time positive," says Di Marchi. "He is the guy in the team who makes the jokes. You're always laughing when you are in his company".

Marco clearly has a lot of time for his client both as a person and as a player, and talks of how humble Toni is – he still keeps in touch with all his friends from back home, perhaps due to the fact that he did not really hit the big time until he was 23 years old.

For much of the season, he seemed to score at will, netting 24 times in the Bundesliga, and his goals against Scotland arguably played the biggest part in our failure to reach the finals of Euro 2008. But he has yet to find the net after three championship games.

With typical Italian cynicism, Di Marchi believes the Italians were mugged by the Romanians in their 1-1 draw, in which his man Toni had a goal disallowed for a dubious offside. "Strikers are sometimes unlucky, Luca will keep his goals for the most important games," he says.

In Germany, Toni has been helped up the scoring charts with assistance from French international winger Franck Ribery. But he has not enjoyed the same service from the Italian team, with only Pirlo looking to cut defences in two with through passes. The rest of Italy's game seems methodical and lacking the edge of Spain and Holland.

The trepidation in the normally confident Italian's voice indicates a widespread concern for Italy's chances in tomorrow's quarter-final against many people's favourites, Spain.

But he believes they can come good. He reckons Marco Borriello of AC Milan would be a good partner for Toni up front – but if form is the key factor, then it's hard to look beyond Alesandro Del Piero, who has just had his most prolific season of scoring in Serie A.

After the Dutch rout, in which Toni operated as the lone striker, Italy did play better against Romania, but five changes raises question marks about the coach Roberto Donadoni. "He signed a new contract, but I don't believe he will be the coach after the championship," says Di Marchi. "He is a good trainer and professional, but we are the world champions and we must qualify. The opinions differ about him as some people say he plays with the wrong system and wrong players. But some players didn't do a good job."

If Italy are to keep their Euro 2008 hopes alive tomorrow, they need all of their players to do a good job. And a goal or two from Toni wouldn't go amiss either.