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At the end of his best ever season, his family now happy and healthy, Danny Vukovic isn’t done yet.
Having been a central part to Sydney FC’s historic 2016-17 campaign, standing in goal, more a brick wall than a man, Vukovic’s professional life appeared, a day or so ago, to have reached a rare peak. He had forced his way back into the national set-up, albeit as a clear third-choice keeper, and he was a pillar in the greatest defence the A-League had ever seen.
More than this, though, Vukovic had survived a personal ordeal that dwarfed any professional hurdle he’d yet encountered. The health of his son, in a perilous place at one point not long ago, was the main reason he moved from Melbourne to Sydney last season.
How heavily that must have weighed on him, every week, and how wonderfully light he must now feel, with young Harley now firmly on the mend having had a vital liver transplant. Simply put, a better twelve months has scarcely been more satisfactorily assembled. And yet, yesterday, it got even better.
Sydney FC announced late yesterday afternoon that Vukovic would depart the club, and embark on a “life-changing” new adventure in Europe. Rumoured to be heading to Belgian club Genk, the Sky Blues understandably yielded immediately, allowing the 32 year old goalkeeper to leave the club.
“I’m very sad to leave,” said Vukovic, “but to have such an unbelievable opportunity so late in my career is something that I just couldn’t turn down.” Indeed, while still young-ish for a goalkeeper, it’s rare to see a player make such a grand leap at this point in their career. Vukovic has never spent more than half a season not playing in Australia.
Genk are well versed in the virtues of Australian goalkeepers. Mat Ryan spent the second half of last season on loan there, and played well enough to earn a move to Brighton, having withered slightly on the bench at Valencia.
In Vukovic the Belgian club will be getting a goalkeeper who is certainly more than capable of maintaining the growing reputation Australian glovemen have there. While slightly worse with his distribution than the stellar Ryan, Vukovic is just as – if not more – capable a shot-stopper, as well as being a superior organisational presence.
His decision making is almost always perfect, and – if this past season in Sydney is anything to go by – his penchant for rising to the big occasion is as good as any keeper in the country. Despite coming eighth last season, Genk had the fifth-best record in the league as far as goals conceded went. Vukovic will only improve the team in this regard.
There’s no doubt, too, that Vukovic’s departure will leave Sydney FC shorn of a major asset. “No one at Sydney FC wants Danny to go and we are naturally devastated to lose him but this is a life changing opportunity for him, his wife Kristy and his beautiful son Harley. It’s the kind of challenge faced by Australian clubs and we cannot stand in his way,” said Sydney manager Graham Arnold.
Andrew Redmayne is Vukovic’s back-up, but one assumes a new first-choice goalkeeper will be sourced over the coming months. A penny for Vedran Janjetovic’s thoughts…
(Image: Paladisious
CC BY-SA 4.0)
Vukovic’s previous attempt at a European tilt ended in caustic disappointment. Signed by Turkish club Konyaspor in 2010, he was released a month into his two-year contract when the club realised they had signed too many foreign players. A clerical error scuppered what should have been the launch of a fine globe-trotting career.
Having been at the Central Coast Mariners for the five season preceding the Turkish debacle, Vukovic quickly found himself back in the A-League, at the Phoenix.
This galling professional defeat was not, it must be said, helped by the lingering stigma of his lengthy 12-month ban, imposed for slapping referee Mark Shield during the 2008 grand final. The ban stopped him from representing the country with the Olyroos at the Beijing Olympics, and devastating cost for a momentary loss of composure.
In 2014, a second attempt at a career overseas, in Japan this time, ended with Vukovic having made zero official appearances for his J-League club Vegalta Sendai. He was on loan there for five months, warming the pine, as the fire in his belly flickered and died. He was returned, once again, at speed and crestfallen to the A-League.
The journeyman career – a highly successful one, mind you – Vukovic has since carved out, with Perth, the Victory, and Sydney, has nonetheless been tinged with a sense of missed opportunity. Well, fate throws fortune, and Vukovic has typically caught it sternly with both hands, and cradled it closely.
The footballing gods can be merciless on its sons and daughters. Injuries, bad luck, and the crushing agony of defeat are folded – in wildly differing amounts – through the heavenly batter of victory and success.
The results can plump up beautifully, or collapse horribly. 12 months ago, Vukovic must have felt as though all his luck belonged to someone else. What a difference a year makes.