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Not long ago Han Berger stated that the number of imports in the A-League should be reduced from five to three.
His reasoning was that not all are quality and non-marquee imports are taking up precious space on club rosters that should be filled by young Australian players.
Craig Moore also stated this week that we shouldn’t recruit marquee defenders like William Gallas.
Marquees he said should be strikers or playmakers as they win games either through creativity or goal scoring, or both as in the case of Alessandro Del Piero and Shinji Ono.
This balance in the A-League between imports (what position/type) and locals is crucial going into the future on two fronts.
One is the quality of the A-League itself as an entertainment/viewing spectacle, as well as the ability to compete in the Asian Champions League.
Two is the quality of future Socceroo teams performing on the world stage.
It is a difficult question. Too many imports and local lads don’t get a chance on the park, therefore the national team suffers in the future.
Not enough quality on the pitch and the A-League will suffer.
Is Han Berger right? If we reduced the imports to three, I would take it a step further and make all three marquees.
The first an outright ‘bums on seats’ primary marquee, a playmaker or goalscorer – or combination of the two – and the other two secondary marquees with the same credentials.
In this secondary category I would personally add a defender such as Gallas.
Wages should reflect the status of each category.
So the real question from a football follower perspective in Australia is, can we have both going forward?
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