- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
While Adelaide United’s foreign contingent of Spaniards and an Argentine were impressing all in the FFA Cup final on Tuesday night, there was another game involving the A-League imports being played at Hindmarsh Stadium.
According to a report on the News network, A-League club bosses held discussions with the FFA and are making ground in their desire to maintain the status quo on the A-League foreign quota rule for next season.
It’s a discussion that’s been bubbling away in the background for some time after the FFA’s former technical director Han Berger proposed a reduction in the number of imports teams are allowed on the roster, essentially to allow the younger Australian more game-time.
It’s a concept that fundamentally I agree with, but my feeling is it’s too early for the A-League to ditch the five foreigner rule.
Instead what the FFA and A-League bosses should agree on is a “four plus one” rule, meaning five foreigners but one of them being from an Asian confederation country.
It’s a compromise that would brings us closer to the Asian Champions League “three plus one” regulations, and that would also help our clubs transition to competing in that competition.
What we have seen particularly in the past five years is a continued improvement in the standard of the A-League and that has largely been down to the improvement in the quality of imports being recruited.
The early days of the A-League were completely dire in terms of foreign recruitment with far too many average journeymen from the UK and other parts being given professional contracts at the expense of the better Australians kicking about in the state leagues.
I think of players like Sean Devine, Ronnie Bull, Remo Buess, Steve MacMahon Jr, Edmundo Zura, Richard Kitzbichler and Marcus Wedau, to name a few.
With the early standard poor in the main, it resulted in a large turn off from fans, and it took at least five seasons for A-League clubs to start to get it.
Once we started to see the likes of Carlos Hernandez then Thomas Broich and Besart Berisha arrive you knew the league was starting to head in the right direction in terms of the type of foreigner it was sourcing.
These days as we look around we can see the emphasis is very much on attracting quality technical players that can make a difference in attack and help A-League clubs control games through quality work on the ball.
Take these six midfielders as an example: Isaias, Albert Riera, Milos Dimitrijevic, Roly Bonevacia, Nebo Marinkovic and Marcelo Carrusca.
The add these six attackers – Sergio Cirio, Pablo Sanchez, Fahid Ben Khalfallah, Berisha, Broich and Andy Keogh – and you an see the quality currently running around in the top half of the pitch.
These days the quality of the recruitment and retention of foreigners is absolutely critical in how a team performs.
Take a look at the recently successful trio of the Brisbane Roar, Western Sydney Wanderers and Central Coast Mariners and you can see how their poor recruitment and retention this season has impacted their performances and positions on the ladder.
The Roar, for example replaced Berisha with Mensur Kurtishi and are only using four of their five foreign spots. A coach change later, with Broich on the sidelines, they rely heavily on an attacker in Henrique who has been up an down in his A-League career.
The Wanderers have replaced Shinji Ono and Youssouf Hersi with Vitor Saba and Romeo Castelen, both struggling with the physical requirements of the league, and are using three of their five spots for defensive players.
The Mariners, meanwhile, have had to go budget and you an see the impact this has had, with Australians out of the state league like Glen Trifiro and Matt Sim even outshining the likes of Malick Mane, Kim Seung-Yong and Richard Vernes.
Even the much talked about Melbourne City have made significant mistakes with their foreigners. Never mind the fact that David Villa was only here for four of his 10 games, or that we are yet to see Robert Koren, but the retention of Robbie Wielaert in the off-season makes the mind boggle.
Yet for all this hit and miss that remains in A-League recruitment and retention, the sad reality is that we’ve not quite got a production line of local talent ready to take up the spots that are otherwise being used by foreigners.
This problem is particularly relevant in the front third, where we have seen very few players step up from the National Premier Leagues and cement a standing as A-League stars.
The clear reason is that the standard between the best front third players in the NPLs and the best in the A-League remains significant and has only increased in the past three or four seasons as foreign recruitment has gotten better.
Yes, we are still seeing the odd kid like Daniel de Silva or Awer Mabil come through the development pathway and get their opportunities, and this is to be applauded, but in the main there isn’t enough quality yet.
The feeling remains across most clubs that if you want to challenge for silverware, the majority of your difference players in the front third have to be the finished product rather than something that is being “worked-on”.
This is why it is paramount over the next five years that A-League clubs set up and embed their own development pathways into the first team.
This is a point that the great Mark Vidua recently made on Santo, Sam and Ed’s Total Football.
Until we see the fruits of the FFA’s national player and coaching curriculum pathway come through in the next five years, the sad reality is that we need quality foreigners to maintain and improve the standard of the league.
But any foreigner that does come should be significantly better than what’s available here, and that’s why it’s important the pressure remains on club to recruit and retain better.
By moving to a “four plus one” that puts pressure on club bosses to invest in better technical scouting networks and be more selective.
What would also be great to see is a move to one of the spots being from Asia, and this will significantly help those clubs moving from competing in the A-League to the ACL.
The upcoming Asian Cup gives smart clubs a prime scouting showcase.
So at least for the next three seasons, as clubs move to build and embed their development structures and bring more kids through, it makes sense to stick with five foreigners, but they should be of a high quality, with one from our own Asian confederation.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.