Sydney’s Shannon Cole (left) and Brisbane’s Tommy Oar (right) during the round 25 A-League match between Brisbane Roar and Sydney F.C at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2010. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
Since the A-League’s inception five years ago, there’s been no secret that players and fans alike see the national competition as little more than a stepping stone to the greener pastures of Europe.
Sure, they’re passionate about whatever club they’re playing for, but the moment an offer from overseas comes in, they can’t leave fast enough.
Bruce Djite jumped ship to the Turkish league in 2008. He returned home with an unflattering six goals in 43 league appearances (for Genclerbiligi and Diyarbakirspor) to join Gold Coast United – suggesting that his decision to leave Australia at age 21 was perhaps a brash one.
His Adelaide and Olyroos teammate Nathan Burns departed South Australia at roughly the same time, and is currently plugging away with F.C Kerkyra in Greece, whose stadium capacity of 2685 would suggest that even GCU would put their crowd numbers to shame.
Then there’s Nick Ward and Ruben Zadkovich, who left the A-League for forgettable forays with Queens Park Rangers and Derby County respectively, before returning to Australia.
In fairness, not all the Aussie exports faded into obscurity upon departure. Although David Carney struggled to hold down a spot at Sheffield United after transferring from Sydney FC, it appeared he had found a role at a decent team, in a decent league (Twente in the Eredivisie) until on deadline day he made the baffling decision to move to Blackpool, where once again he is lucky to even get five minutes off the bench at the end of the game.
But with the announcement of Holger Osieck’s Asian Cup squad, there’s never been a more relevant comparison between a player who chanced his arm overseas and one that stuck with the A-League in order to break through to the national team.
Born a month apart in the same city, playing for the same team, one playing wide on the left, the other playing wide on the right. Robbie Kruse and Michael Zullo both made their starting XI debuts for the Brisbane Roar in the same game against Wellington Phoenix, on the 5th of October, 2007. It was a game that thrust both of them into the public eye, with Zullo scoring the first and setting up Kruse’s winner.
Big things were expected from the pair of local boys and it was by and large the opinion of experts that they would not achieve their full potential at the Roar (who were a far cry from the table topping juggernaut that we’ve seen this season).
As many had predicted, Kruse left the club in September 2009. But unlike Burns and Djite before him, Kruse’s destination was not in the Mediterranean, but rather to Brisbane’s rivals, the Melbourne Victory – to replace the departing Danny Allsopp.
Zullo remained in Brisbane for another season before being transferred to Utrecht, along with Tommy Oar and Adam Sarota.
People questioned Kruse’s sideways move to the Victory, but after playing in a grand final last year and currently being in career best form, it seems an inspired decision.
He is one of only four locally based players to make the cut for the Asian Cup, where he will make his debut for the Socceroos. In the meantime, Zullo is yet to make an appearance for Utrecht and has been frozen out of the national team since a couple of substitute appearances in predominantly A-League based squads two seasons ago.
The benefit to more A-League players being deemed national team standard is unquestionable – it brings more credibility to a struggling league and will entice the best players to prolong their stay in Australia before looking overseas.
With crowd numbers dropping despite the overall quality of the football increasing, motivating the Australian public to drag themselves to A-League games may well prove that little bit easier with “Asian Cup winner Robbie Kruse” in action against “Asian Cup winner Jade North.”
Obviously players will not stay in Australia forever. Robbie Kruse will eventually leave the A-League and hopefully not return until he’s 33 and has had a great career in Europe.
All we can hope for is that the next young crop of Australian footballers look to Kruse or Luke DeVere for inspiration, rather than the dozens of guys that made the jump too early and returned to Australia with their tails between their legs.
Sadly, I don’t see Bruce Djite or Ruben Zadkovich being the answer to Australia’s problems anywhere down the line.
lee
Guest
quality article matthew
Roarchild
Guest
Sometimes players just need a new challenge as well. After being in the A league for a few years the may have become stale. If their not quite good enough for Europe then going to Asia might be a good alternative. Takes them out of their comfort zone and suddenly there's more pressure on them. It's a lot different being one of the foreigners in these teams than being a local as your performances are more scrutinized.
TheMagnificent11
Roar Guru
I don't understand your point. England won't win the World Cup any time soon; are you saying Australian shouldn't go play there? I think we both agree that players that want to become better players should go an play in better leagues. The question is which leagues would be better and help them develop. You seem to believe that an Australian player won't benefit from playing in Japan or Korea. I disagree because these league are of a higher technical standard. There are probably similar tactically and the players there are probably not as fit of mentally tough as here in the A-League. However, Australian players don't need to become fitter or stronger mentally; they need to improve their technique. So I believe they can benefit from playing in Japan or Korea. Having said that, I agree that our best young talent should try to go to European clubs that have an emphasis on youth development. However, what about the Australian players in their mid 20s that of national team standard but probably not likely to hold down a starting spot at a European club? Japan and Korea are ideal for such players.
pete
Guest
An example: Dario Vidosic passed the Asian Cup to play as a right back (defender) now in Germany for his club instead of a striker when playing for Roar (and Socceroos) tells you what players going abroad are up against. I understand Nick Carle was in the same boat at Palace last year too. It just doesn't work out sometimes if the correct environment, coach, country isn't there
pete
Guest
Player agents are the problem! while $ is to be made selling on a player whenever they are only interested in commissions and couldn't care less about football's development here
Davstar
Guest
better league doesn't mean it's a better move for Australia. If Leckie, Oar etc went to the J-league it would be a crime and a massive lose, just because the league is better then the A-league doesn't make it better by that much. All Asian are shocking! i've said this billions of times our players will go to asia when the best players in Europe go to Asia. As long as the best players in Asia are moving to Europes big leagues then we will DO THE SAME. No point taking the easy way out, Japan and Korea wont win a world cup anytime soon or why should we follow them, our players have a completely different styles and physical attributes.
Tristan Rayner
Editor
Nice article here Matt. I'd prefer if they went at a younger age (ie as a teenager) for their youth development, rather than by the time they are 20+. Anyway, Nick Carle is one of my favourite players who has been through the ringer in Europe. He had a crack through Genclerbirligi and was impressed there but didn't like being away from his family in an unfamiliar, non-English speaking country. He did really well then at Bristol to just miss out on promotion to the Premier League before being taken on by Neil Warnock for Crystal Palace. He had ups and downs there under Warnock who liked him as a player, but didn't suit Paul Hart who replaced Warnock. I saw him play just the other day for Sydney FC., after he's been out with injury. Just had enough neat touches and moves to remind me of how much I did like him (possibly inspired by Jesse Fink here on The Roar just a few short years ago). I hope he can flourish. Ps. Matt, don't be afraid to email through a correction or submit an updated story - I've done it when I realised I'd made a balls-up!
Matt Bungard
Roar Guru
I noticed my Burns mistake but not until a few minutes after I sent it off to theroar, sadly. Given I watched him play for AEK earlier this year I probably should have picked up on that...apologies.
THE NSL
Guest
Burns was loaned out to kerkyra last year and he helped them get promoted to greek super league, he was then recalled back to aek athens at start of this season and has played 20 games in the current season
TheMagnificent11
Roar Guru
The J and K Leagues are better than the A-League. The J2-League is probably better than the A-League. All other leagues in Asia probably don't offer a young Australian player the chance to develop that much (even though the Thai league is technically superior overall it is probably not as good). Also, as I said before, if the player's main aim is to make money you cannot complain if they chose to go play in China or a league in the Middle East.
Davstar
Guest
Staying in the A-league is better then going to asia or Weak european leagues. However the A-league obviously isn't a half decent league if 98% of it's exports flop in stronger leagues.
TheMagnificent11
Roar Guru
Totally agree
Midfielder
Guest
Well written article and a great topic .... my reading of the tea leafs is we have 200 players overseas making a living out of football ... of these maybe 40 are worth considering for the national team the others as JON said like a watier in Holiday waiting for a break.... would be great to see them at home... Personally I would love to have a few clubs overseas lined up to take potential players ... actually more than a few but give these clubs only top class players to develop .... The A-League standard is growing and if the next media deal allows [budget wise] hopwfully we can expand the league to keep or bring back maybe 100 of the 200 over the years and boost the quality of the local league
TheMagnificent11
Roar Guru
I think there's nothing wrong with a 18 or 19 year old going to a club like Utrecht or AEK. They are clubs with good youth development and do give younger players a go. The moves I question are where players go to clubs in places like Romania thinking they are in the "shop window" for clubs in the bigger European league. So basically, the motivation for the move is what you need to look at. Are they doing it to try and develop themselves as a footballer or are they just chasing the money? Having said that, I don't have a problem with players in their late 20s and 30s going somewhere just for the money. At that stage they need to consider their financial future. There have been a lot of questionable moves in the past but I think you will see less of them in the future. The standard of the A-League is now such that you can get look in with the national team. The PFA also provide an agent service that is not based on profit but doing what's best for the player. I think these two things will ensure Aussie players are more diligent about overseas transfers.
Futbanous
Guest
Having watched Kruse & Zullo first hand from their starting debuts ,my personal opinion was that Kruse had more potential than Zullo once he got his head right. Zullo is at best a reasonable A-League player. His(& Robbies) initial success relied on their fresh young player impact. The MO of Zullo after a few matches was predictable. The ideal is for a young player to become established, a star in the A-League for a couple of seasons then move overseas. This provides if the timing is right revenue for an A-League club via a transfer fee. For the player there is more chance of success in breaking into the first team overseas. Having said that & taking the Roar as an example I would not say this approach rang true until the vast improvement in coaching & playing standard this season. If Zullo or Kruse or indeed Minniecon had remained at the Roar until this year(refer Mitch Nichols) I would argue they would have been better prepared for an overseas odyssey. Robbie Kruse benefited because he went to a benchmark club in Melbourne Victory one already well estabilished in terms of what we expected an A-League club would become on & off the field. The "Stars in the eyes" syndrome is as a result of a generation of young players looking overseas for their professional football model. It will take time to reverse this, but it is obvious that the A-League standard is improving which will be noted by young players. A matter of Evolution in terms of standard of football nullifying the desire to rush off to Europe before you have established yourself in the A-League for a couple of seasons.
Rob Gremio
Roar Pro
Apart from the outdated information on Burns, which JJ has already pointed out, I think you'll find that not many people questioned Kruse's move "sideways" to Melbourne in terms of lack of ambition. In fact, the question was whether he would be any good, given his off field behaviour and lack of professional attitude in that final season at Brisbane. There is no way a club in Europe would have even given him a sideways glance the way he was performing and behaving when Brisbane decided to let him go. Happily for him, he got his house in order - probably moving away from Brisbane was the best thing he could have done - away from the bad influence of his mates here, and somewhere where he had to prove himself and start from zero. It wass also a good bit of business for Melbourne, as it turns out. As for Zullo, I think you'll find he has been struggling with injury since his move to Utrecht. A Dutch guy who follows Utrecht posted something to that effect on another forum a while ago. He also said that of the three players, they thought Zullo was impressing most in pre-season. Hopefully his injury problems clear up and he can get back to his best. All that said, your point about staying in the A-League is valid. The rising standard of the league does indeed make the players think twice about leaving.
JJ
Guest
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JJ
Guest
I agree with the point of the article my only critique is that Nathan Burns has actually made a breakthrough at AEK and is playing regularly, his loan was last year -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.