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I’ve made a point of singling out Harry Kewell for his bravery in joining Turkish giants Galatasaray. Now I’m extending the compliment, and deservedly, to Luke Wilkshire for his extraordinary move from Dutch side FC Twente to FC Dynamo Moscow, home of the great Lev Yashin.
Extraordinary for two things.
First, the size of his fee.
$10 million is a gobsmacking amount of money for a player that only a few seasons ago was wasting away in lower-tier English football. Second, the choice of destination. Wilkshire becomes the first Australian to play in the Russian Premier League, so he becomes yet another of the great trailblazers of the Australian football diaspora.
Years ago I edited my SBS Sport colleague Matthew Hall’s excellent book about Australian players abroad, The Away Game, which documented the paths of Joe Marston, Craig Johnston, Eddie Krncevic and Robbie Slater, among many others, to English and European football.
The first wave of football migration was to England. Then to western Europe. For a brief while it was South-East Asia and Japan. Then it became eastern Europe and Scandinavia. Now it is becoming western Asia and Russia.
Far from being a comedown from the leagues of western Europe, the recent performances of Zenit St Petersburg in the UEFA Cup and Russia at Euro 2008 has shown the Russian game measures up. So, from a career development point of view, this is far from a bad move for Wilkshire and also, crucially, brings him closer to his great mentor, Russia coach Guus Hiddink.
It was Hiddink who recognised Wilkshire’s qualities when he was flapping about as a squad player for the Socceroos in 2005.
Hiddink fast-tracked Wilkshire into the first XI as a utility player, able to switch from defence to attack to virtually anywhere on the field, and made a virtue of his fitness. Other players with similar traits – Brett Emerton, Jason Culina, just two examples – have gone on, like Wilkshire, to be vital cogs in the Socceroos machine.
(Whether that has been to the detriment of creative mien in the side – to wit: the continuing omission of Nicky Carle – is not for me to debate. I will just get my head shot off if I dare raise Nickygate again, though I will say for the record here that his absence from the just-announced squad for the Netherlands friendly and Uzbekistan WCQ really is beyond the pale.)
But it’s clear to me, from watching the game and my own insights gleaned from discussions with Pim Verbeek – that Wilkshire is the sort of player our Dutch coaching mafia wants to see springing forth from our youth development programs.
Not too flashy, but fast, nimble, adaptable. Able to follow instructions and not talk back.
Any kid wanting to break into the Socceroos would do well to study the game of Wilkshire closely. (Whatever you do, fellas, just don’t take any notice of Nicky Carle, if you know what’s good for you.)
Undoubtedly Wilkshire has benefited greatly from Hiddink’s enormous influence and munificence in getting this move to Russia but he’s had to back up that hype with performance.
I was not a great fan of Wilkshire when he first started playing for the Socceroos but few critics, including me, could quibble that he hasn’t earned his stripes as a Socceroo. He’s also been putting away some valuable goals in the Eredivisie, something he has yet to do for the Socceroos in nearly 30 internationals.
But they will come. It is just a matter of time.
And I will be cheering him all the way. To be the first Socceroo to play in Russian football is a historic achievement.
поздравления, Luke.
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