It’s the hot topic on everyone’s lips in the football community at the moment – which club will tempt the Socceroo away from his marquee money at Melbourne City?
I’ve given each plausible destination around the world a ranking between one and five. One being an extremely slim chance of picking up Mooy and five being a big possibility.
Firstly, let’s quash one rumour that might seem likely from our perspective.
NYC FC (1)
With David Villa, Andrea Pirlo, Frank Lampard and a $3.5 million salary cap, Mooy could only move to the Big Apple if he took a big pay cut. He’d also be competing with the latter two and fan favourite Poku for spots in centre midfield, so it’s likely he wouldn’t get the TLC he deserves from new coach Patrick Viera.
EPL, Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A (2)
It’s hard to know what clubs from the big four leagues would make of Mooy. While talented, his dominance has come at the hands of A-League teams and Asia’s minnows so far.
While I think he could definitely slide into a lot of the smaller teams in these leagues, I think it’s probably just out of his reach at this point.
Al Nassr or the Middle East (3)
Melbourne City have already reportedly knocked back a $2 million bid for the Socceroo and more are expected to come. With the Mooys recently bringing baby Skylar into the world, an estimated $6 million per year tax-free salary would certainly be tempting for the young family.
J-League, K-League or China (3.5)
The money would be the same or slightly less in East Asia and the football would be at a higher level for Mooy to further improve his skills and become a better player.
East Asia would offer a decent standard of living, and while I wouldn’t bet on Mooy going to China with his family, the other two would provide sound options for the Socceroo.
B-Grade Euro league (3.5)
It wouldn’t be a bad move for Mooy to try out one of Europe’s mid-range leagues, like Greece, Hungary, Croatia, Turkey, Scandinavia or Portugal. Most of these leagues aren’t blessed with mega-dollars, so you could only see him heading there if one of the league giants swooped for him.
Belgium and the Netherlands (4)
If I were Mooy, this would be the move I’d hold out for – a quality league that constantly feeds starlets to the Bundesliga and EPL. You would imagine Aussie-appreciative teams like Roda SC and PEC Zwolle would have their eye on the midfielder, while Belgian sides would fondly remember the cameos of Mat Ryan and James Troisi.
Manchester City – then on loan (4.5)
I’m sure most people would agree that if they were the City Group, you’d be doing everything in your power to hold onto this incredible player. It’s a win-win-win situation for all.
City retains ownership of their star, a club somewhere in Europe can pick him up without a transfer fee and Mooy himself has the stability for his family to return to his old job in Melbourne if overseas doesn’t work out. Mooy seems to have maturity as a person and you could see him using his City connection to create a good move for him and his family at the end of the season.
Stay at Melbourne City (4.5)
If it’s not broken, don’t fix it! Mooy has a young family now and staying in one of the world’s most liveable cities on a marquee salary will definitely be a contributing factor to staying in the garden state. If Melbourne City make the Asian Champions League next season, I could see the Socceroo staying for longer in the white of Melbourne City.
Anywhere else? (2)
Who knows? He’s good enough for most leagues on the planet, but it’s more a matter if they’ve even heard of him. After watching his highlights reel, you might imagine a few obscure countries would ask about his services.
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