- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Here is a sobering thought for fans of the Socceroos: Tom Rogic is not good enough to play in the Scottish Premier League.
It’s not a sentiment we’ve heard much since Scottish giants Celtic said they’d let the former Central Coast Mariners youngster leave Parkhead on loan this month, but it’s probably a discussion worth having.
The popular consensus has been to blame Celtic coach Neil Lennon for failing to appreciate Rogic’s singular talents.
But given that he only played 24 games in total over two seasons for the Mariners, perhaps it’s not hard to see why Rogic was viewed predominantly as a squad member by the Glaswegian giants.
That Celtic have seen fit to bring over Jubilo Iwata’s attacking talent Hiroki Yamada for a trial is instructive.
Not only has the 25-year-old rattled home more than 20 J. League goals and earned a couple of caps for Japan in the process, he’s also more than capable of fulfilling Rogic’s role.
If Celtic are so anti-possession football, as the critics would have you believe, why would they run the rule over a slightly-built attacking midfielder from Japan?
Perhaps it’s because for all his undoubted talent, Rogic is yet to prove himself at any level.
And it could be argued that when the chance came for him to do so in Glasgow, he failed to take it.
The fact Vegalta Sendai’s head honchos weren’t interested in bringing in the eight-times capped Socceroo on loan says much about the type of player available elsewhere.
Vegalta’s number-crunchers evidently weren’t too keen on signing Rogic for only half-a-season, not that it stopped the Australian media – the ever-reliable Scott McIntyre being the one notable exception – from reporting it as a done deal.
And while the A-League community enthuses about Mitch Nichols’ impending move to Cerezo Osaka, the Osakans are actively pursuing Uruguayan hotshot Diego Forlan as well.
Nichols is effectively set to replace a Brazilian, Simplicio, who played more than 300 games in Italy’s Serie A.
In other words, there’s no shortage of talent available around the world.
So why is it that players like Rogic – or before him Michael Zullo, New Zealand international Kosta Barbarouses, Eli Babalj and others – have headed overseas with high hopes, only to struggle to make the grade?
Could it not be that many of our A-League youngsters are overhyped, over-eager and ultimately, overrated?
That seems to particularly be the case when it comes to player agents spruiking their clients to overseas clubs.
Has there ever been a more baffling transfer than the aforementioned Barbarouses’ move to Russian Premier League outfit Alania Vladikavkaz?
Did no one seriously inform the Kiwi flyer that moving to a club in the middle of a warzone might not be the best for his career development?
Or what about Rogic’s decision to sign for Celtic? If the Glaswegians are apparently hell-bent on playing long-ball football, why did a playmaker like Rogic choose to move there in the first place?
Perhaps only he and his agent Andy Bernal will know.
But the fact is that had Rogic chosen to develop his undoubted talents in the A-League for a little longer, he could well have assured himself a spot on the plane to Brazil and the chance to play in a World Cup.
Instead, the fleet-footed youngster has essentially wasted his time on the fringes of a disinterested Scottish club, only to be forced to return to the A-League as a last-ditch stop-gap measure.
Hopefully one of Melbourne Victory, Sydney FC or his former club Central Coast can help salvage Rogic’s World Cup dreams.
The former futsal international is a game-breaker and the sort of player the Socceroos may well need in Brazil.
But he’ll need to start performing – and soon – if there’s any chance of that happening.
And he probably needs to start soliciting some better advice, because the past 12 months have been anything but plain sailing in the curious career of Tom Rogic.