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What to buy? How much to spend? Will it be useful? These are questions many of us are wrestling with at this time of year as the Christmas present transfer window edges closer to being closed.
But while it’s too early to tell whether we’re successful in that endeavour, those of us who are A-League fans have already had time to unwrap our new season presents and had a couple of months to try them out.
Now ’tis the season to run the rule over the gifts that have been giving our season a lift.
For the purposes of this exercise I’m leaving out the recruitment that happened within the A-League, like Besart Berisha going from Brisbane to Melbourne Victory and Youssouf Hersi from the Wanderers to Perth.
Having your club buy a player like that is great, but it’s sort of like getting a present that you’ve already been to the store and checked out and know it’s going to be under the tree on Christmas morning. It’s lovely, but doesn’t quite have the excitement of getting something new, unexpected and exciting.
For me, these are the standout buys based on the first 10 rounds of the season.
Andy Keogh
The club that seems to have got the gift of the season so far is Perth. (Let’s hope they didn’t blow their FFA Kris Kringle spending limit in sealing the deal).
At 28 years old the Republic of Ireland striker has been a tearaway success in all respects. He’s appeared in all 10 league games, scored six goals and boasts the very healthy stat of 28 shots, 14 of them on target. He seems to be the classic example a player who, due to injury and poor timing, barely made it past the fringes at the top level overseas but has come into his own since arriving in the A-League.
He’s certainly been key to Perth going from eighth in 2013-14 to league leaders. The full sleeve tattoo and brush back blonde locks just add to the fan-pleasing package.
Marc Janko
Plenty of players have been delivered to Sydney FC over the years with much more hype than this Austrian striker, but a lot haven’t had such an on-field impact so quickly.
When he arrived Sky Blues fans could’ve been forgiven for thinking the 31-year-old was Mike Cockerill’s long-lost brother rather than the captain of a European national team but he’s won over the fans. He’s started in all seven of his appearances and scored four goals, including a double against Melbourne City – and that’s despite him admitting he started the season a little lacking in the fitness department.
Roy Krishna
Wellington Phoenix are the equivalent of the canny shopper who goes to the humble local market rather than to one of the big brand stores and yet comes away with a the perfect gift. Roy Krishna, like Albert Riera before him, was picked up by the Phoenix while plying his trade with Auckland City in the New Zealand domestic league.
The 27-year-old product of Fiji had been knocking around the local league for six seasons but, given the chance to step up into Ernie Merrick’s side, has blossomed. He’s appeared in eight games, scored four goals and delivered the final pass for another two.
Pacific Islanders have become firm favourites in the other football codes across the ditch but the pocket rocket striker is opening up new possibilities in the round ball game.
Damien Duff
If Melbourne City’s recruitment headlines hadn’t been stolen by a certain Spanish international striker, the arrival of Damien Duff at the newly-named club would’ve attracted more attention. The former Chelsea and Republic of Ireland winger was a very good get for City given they signed him for a year under the salary cap, without having to blow their overseas marquee spot.
In nine appearances in the A-League ‘Duffer’ has proven himself a workaholic. He’s only been subbed off once. That was with injury against Brisbane earlier this month and, sadly, he’s been ruled out until the New Year with a calf injury. Sure, that’s the down side of bringing in a 35-year-old, but he’s hardly taken his foot off the pedal since arriving, racking up more minutes than any of his teammates, setting up four goals and drawing 21 fouls from opponents.
And if Emile Heskey was ideal for Australia because his name rhymed with ‘esky’, a guy who’s surname is the same as Homer Simpson’s favourite brand of beer has also got something extra working for him.
Fahid Ben Khalfallah
The French born Tunisian international arrived at Melbourne Victory with so little fanfare that it seems commentators are still trying to decide how to pronounce his name. Whether it’s ‘Khalfallah’, the Robbie Slater way: rhyming with ‘lah-de-dah’; or Khalfallah as it’s more commonly said. sounding something like a mangled version of ‘cool fella’, he’s certainly attracted some attention with his on-field exploits.
He’s played a part in all 10 games, during which Victory have remained undefeated, scored two goals, is credited with assists on another two and he’s only been topped in the goals on target department by Golden Boot Besart Berisha.
Sure, he’s pulling the trigger more than any other Victory player with 21 shots compared to Berisha’s 19 but he’s also the main provider of crosses into the box for the competition high flyers. He might’ve been low profile when he arrived in the league, but you can bet the attacking midfielder is a high profile consideration for defences around the country, who probably don’t really care how his name is pronounced.
Romeo Castelen
Speaking of pronunciation, if you want to be on first name basis with the Western Sydney Wanderers winger Castelen, bear in mind it’s Romeo as in ‘Alfa’ not Romeo as in ‘wherefore art thou?’
While some of the Wanderers’ other new recruits might’ve in some games attracted the ‘wherefore art thou?’ question, the right winger who was born in Surinam and represented the Netherlands at international level has made his presence felt in his seven A-League appearances. Even so, you get the feeling that his pace down the right side is still yet to be fully exploited as he and his teammates strive to develop better combinations.
Although he’s yet to score in the A-League he got on the board in Morocco this week in the fifth place playoff against ES Setif. The positive was perhaps cancelled out by some not-so-bright news later in the game: he had to be replaced after sustaining an abdominal injury. In a season where not much has gone right for the Wanderers so far, it’s to be hoped Castelen recovers quickly and gets a chance to sparkle more in attack.
So, there you have the players I rate as top six gifts to A-League fans from the wonderful wide world of football.
The fantastic thing about the game of football is the planet is like one big department store full of players. That means there’s almost an endless choice, which can sometimes make the shopping harder but that’s the excitement of it too.
Quite often players we’ve heard almost nothing about turn out to be the best thing since sliced bread and sometimes those we hold great hopes for turn out to be something like the toy you got as a kid on Christmas morning that didn’t include the batteries so you couldn’t try it out; or like the whiz bang appliance Uncle Mike brought back from overseas that doesn’t have the right power adaptor to actually plug in and use.
Like a Mensur Kurtishi. And that didn’t work out well for Uncle Mike. But that’s another story for another day. Hope you don’t find one of them under your tree on Christmas morning! Merry Christmas.
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