Bafana Bafana hopeful Joel Untersee will be playing in Italy’s Serie A next season after completing his permanent move from Juventus to newly-promoted Empoli.

The right-sided player‚ who can feature as a fullback or a winger‚ was signed by the Tuscan club for €500‚000 (R8-million) and is likely to feature prominently for them in the coming campaign.

Untersee‚ 24‚ was on loan at Empoli last season‚ helping them to top spot in Serie B with 15 appearances in a campaign that was also blighted by injury.

He will now look forward to playing against the likes of Milan sides AC and Inter‚ Napoli‚ Lazio‚ Roma and former club Juventus.

Notable ex-Empoli players include Italian international Vincenzo Montella‚ Antonio Di Natale and Luca Toni.

Untersee‚ who was born in Johannesburg‚ has decided to represent Bafana after meeting with head coach Stuart Baxter.

He is a former Swiss junior international who joined the Juventus academy at the age of 16‚ but never played a senior match for the side after a string of loans in the Swiss and Italian leagues.

Baxter last month told TimesLIVE he expects Untersee to be available when Bafana resume their African Nations Cup qualification campaign at home to Libya in September.