There has been much hype around the new signings in the A-League for season thirteen.
Whilst the standard of our local talent is commendable and more and more of our young players are heading off to ply their trade around the globe, quality imports are vital to the growth and appeal of our local competition.
There have been spikes in interest over the years, where quality international players have graced our shores and lifted the profile of the league.
Whether it was Dwight Yorke, Emile Heskey or the explosion of interest created with the arrival of Alessandro Del Piero, the import or marquee provides something that Australian football so desperately needs. Class.
Many feel the batch of visitors on the books of the ten clubs right now might just be the most talented and evenly spread collection of quality internationals that the A-League has ever seen.
Moreover, there has also been speculation that the season approaching could be the purest display of weekly league football that we have ever seen in this country. I certainly hope so and if it does prove to be the case, these are the men who will be most responsible.
Adelaide United
The Reds have rebuilt after something of a crash in 2016-17. Riding the wave of a Championship is always a difficult thing and the club failed in what was a disappointing year.
It only took 45 minutes to convince me that their fortunes will change this season.
Watching the debut of Johan Absalonsen against the Jets in the FFA Cup suggested that Adelaide had their hands on some much-needed quality.
Throw in Algerian Karim Matmour who arrives from 1860 Munich and the city of Adelaide have a sprinkling of quality to combine with Spanish mainstay Isaias and Senegal’s Baba Diawara.
Brisbane Roar
Despite jibes questioning the age of the squad, John Aloisi has more talent at his disposal than ever. Massimo Maccarone arrives from Empoli and is sheer class. At 38, the talent will still be there, producing it consistently will be his challenge.
Frenchman Eric Bautheac heads to Queensland from Lille and is top shelf. Still only 30, Brisbane will be hoping the midfielder provides quality service to those up front, including the well-tested Tunisian, Fahid Ben Khalfallah.
The Roar will need to find the back of the net more consistently than they did last season.
Central Coast Mariners
The international flavour in the Mariners squad is exciting and Paul Okon has obviously cast his net far and wide. Tom Hiariej brings a decade of top-flight experience from Holland, Spanish striker Asdrubal is quality in front of goal and Wout Brama is another Dutchmen coming to our shores.
With over three hundred games and international football pedigree, Brama could be the nugget of gold for which the Mariners have been searching.
Melbourne City
Things don’t appear to have started well for City this season and time may be their ally as the new signings find their feet and gel. Dutchman Bart Schenkeveld arrives with international experience at youth level and pole Marcin Budzinski has been signed in an attempt to manage to the long-term injury to Bruno Fornaroli.
All three are class and Melbourne will dream of having them on the pitch together in the new year. Add in Argentine Fernando Brandan and Dane Michael Jakobsen and City have a batch of internationals the envy of most clubs.
Melbourne Victory
Of course, the Victory will be in the running this season, it is what they do. The squad is quite settled yet the arrival of Argentine Matias Sanchez will reap rewards in the midfield where he will hold things admirably and Dutchman Leroy George arrives from Turkey with excellent pedigree.
Throw in the growing legend of Besart Berisha and the Victory are well stocked with international class.
(AAP Image/Julian Smith)
Newcastle Jets
One of the most talked about clubs based on recruitment, the Jets are tipped by many to be the big improvers in 2017-18.
Irishman Roy O’Donovan is an important signing for Newcastle, with instinct in front of goal lacking last season and with marquee Ronny Vargas providing from midfield the future looks bright. The Venezuelan could be the most telling signing of all the clubs, such is his quality.
With some shrewd local signings, things look promising for the Jets.
Perth Glory
The signing of Spaniard Andreu Guerao is interesting. Unwanted by the Wanderers just over a year ago, he reunites with old friend Diego Castro and brings experience to the squad that Kenny Lowe has assembled.
Contrastingly, Xavi Torres comes to our shores with La Liga pedigree and completes a trio of Spaniards in Perth. The midfielder is one of the many 30-year-old internationals with years of quality football still to play, something noticeable about many of the signings.
Sydney FC
Pole Adrian Mierzejewski has already started with a bang in Sydney’s run to the FFA Cup semi-final. He may have only played one game to this point yet his performance was astonishing, considering his fitness levels and unfamiliarity with the squad.
The prospect of seeing Adrian, as it appears he will become known, and Milos Ninkovic together for the Sky Blues is mouth-watering, with many feeling that, with Brazilian Bobo, they potentially provide an even more dangerous attacking threat than the dominant Sydney team of last season.
Wellington Phoenix
Croatian Goran Paracki is an interesting story and arrives from his homeland after almost two hundred games of top-level football. At 30, he is another with plenty to offer, as is the returning Serbian international Andrija Kaludjerovic.
After scoring seven times for the Brisbane Roar three seasons back, Wellington hope the Serb will be a consistent source of goals for them in season thirteen.
When aligned with marquee Gui Finkler and Fijian Roy Krishna, it is easy to see why people are excited about the quality of the current imports on our shores.
Western Sydney Wanderers
Spaniard Oriol Riera might just be the cream of the crop when it comes to new signings. La Liga and Premier League experience speaks for itself and the 31-year-old has plenty to offer.
His influence has already had a significant impact on the Club, with his words encouraging fellow countryman Alvaro Cejudo to join him at the Wanderers.
Cejudo brings more top-flight experience from Spain and will be used to provide run on the right side for the Western Sydney who, frankly, need more potency in attack.
What a wonderful selection of international players to savour over the next six months.
Combined with an array of entrenched visitors who have made Australia their second home, the A-League looks to have a depth in imports and marquees more impressive than at any other time in its history.
Let’s hope the pedigree becomes reality and the football reflects the reputations of the new men and the money spent on them.
punter
Guest
Well JB, like most great teams, with some shrewd business deals, some brilliance & as always lots of luck. GA did some very shrewd business deals in getting Brosque on the cheap, Zullo & Wilkinson from MC & Brillante back home from O/S.Using his contacts to get Buijs to replace Jurman. Some great luck in having Vukovic fall into his lap, due to personal issues with Vukovic & his son & having the greatest season of a GK, a tremendous displays from Ninkovic, giving SFC 3 marquees, instead of 2. The Brilliance of the coaching staff to get the best out of Vukovic, O'Neill, Grant & Brosque, who all had their best year in the A-League & the brilliance of Ninko, up there with the best season performance of any A-league player in the history.
j,binnie
Guest
Lionheart = Careful my friend. "Developing a player" can take on many guises and time zones, from 6-12, from 12 - 16 ,from local - professional football and,from national - international level. Without knowing what level you are talking about it is hard to pass comment ,but as you probably know Roar have had more than a few players on their books who have moved on to perform at other clubs. Does that reflect well on Roar as a development club or does it mean we produce better promising youngsters in Queenslands junior football. Cheers jb.
j,binnie
Guest
Punter - From the players you mentioned as comparison it would appear that Queensland,not necessarily Brisbane Roar, have had a lot of players go through the books to other HAL identities. It would be wrong to suggest they, Roar,have found a magic formula for producing young promising players for it is only comparatively recently that they have made steps towards formalising their "academy". You still have not explained to me the why's and wherefores as to how Sydney FC performed so well last season. Cheers jb..
punter
Guest
LH, the youth guys made the GF last year.
punter
Guest
JB, I think I got your point, just showing the top 4 teams from last, all did the same thing, hence my list above. Let's even look closer, one of those foreigners replaced a local junior in Matt Jurman, who left for greener pastures after an outstanding 1st half of the season. Another one is our keepers were very close in standard at the beginning of year & could have gone either way & Vuckovic went on to have the best season a GK ever had in the A-League. So it could've been 3 foreigners & 4 from other clubs & one of the O'Neill was not getting a run at Perth Glory.
Lionheart
Guest
It tells me that Sydney FC doesn't have a very good young player development process. I don't know what their setup is, but it's not working, despite the reputation Arnie has for developing players.
j,binnie
Guest
Punter - You missed the point completely. Sydney FC totally dominated the HAL last season but stayed within the laid down regulations. What does that tell you about the standard of the other teams in the league who can also operate within those regulations? I was never trying to isolate the movement of local ,or otherwise, players.within the league itself ,just what was the magic ingredient that saw Sydney dominate the comp. in such a definitive manner. Was it a better overseas and local coaching system,was it the coach's ability to pick future stars,or was it his good common senses in signing players who had been tried and tested elsewhere. As a supporter you must have an opinion . Cheers jb.
Johnno
Guest
foreign imports often will cost more.. And yes the aussie people are lazy or not living in free market economics if other people are willing to live here and work for less. Maybe the average aussie bogan should stop being lazy and accept there market value..
punter
Guest
Brisbane - North from Newcastle, Hingert from Nth Queensland fury, Theo for Melbourne Victory, Petratos from Sydney FC, McClaren from Perth Glory. Victory - Rojas from Wellington Phoenix, Berisha from Brisbane Roar, Donachie from BR, Geria from BR Perth Golry - Reddy, numerous HAL club, Taggart Newcastle United, Warren SFC, Djulbic Gold Coast, Chianese SFC. Not really unusal.
j,binnie
Guest
Last season we had an HAL competition totally dominated by Sydney FC. If one cares to examine that team's usual run on eleven it may surprise to see a side made up of the expected 7 Australian born players and the "allowed" 4 "foreigners". What is unusual in the analysis is that 5 of those 7 Australian players were sourced from other HAL clubs!!!. What can one take out of this fact?. Is it that GA is smarter than the "average bear" ?, or is it just good luck he managed to get them all together at the same time? Cheers jb.
Midfielder
Guest
Real Agree
Midfielder
Guest
Well said Nem
Nemesis
Guest
They should open the floodgates? Really? You suggest this for all jobs, or just ALeague football playing jobs? If your employer can find someone from overseas, who will work longer hours for less pay, should the Aust Govt allow as many foreigners to come & work here & put you & your Aussie mates out of a job?
Johnno
Guest
Im committed to both.. The NBA has unlimited imports and americans are now missing to on spots, does that bother you? The NRL allows unlimited imports and it's helping other sides at the expense of the kangaroos, who cares. I want the best a-league, the a-league should be about profit not helping the socceroos. And anyway it helps the socceroos as better players bring in more interest in soccer and this filters down to the grassroots as more people take an interest in soccer in OZ. And I don't agree with the AFC rule of 3+1, they should open the floodgates. Caring about national teams should not be a priority for club teams in any nation..
Michael Mills
Guest
I think we should move to the 3+1 rule as well, except I'd make all of these spots exempt from the cap. If clubs can afford to bring in four 'marquee' visa players, then let them. Ultimately it will help the whole league. You could also make two Australian roster spots exempt from the cap for returning Socceroos.
Realfootball
Guest
Way to kill the game in this country. I'm with the others - we should align with the rest of the confederation with 3+1.
Nemesis
Guest
@Johnno Do you have a commitment to ALeague or Australian football? I do. I laugh at sports fans who say "I only want to watch the best", because the nature of sport is that "the best" cannot be identified until the contest is over.. I think the current allocation is perfect. In fact, I hope the ALeague moves to a foreigner policy of 3+1 as is the regulation for ACL squads.
Griffo
Roar Guru
I think more teams will help. I certainly wouldn't agree with an unrestricted foreign quota (very detrimental to local development). Although some may say there just isn't the cattle to fill the extra Aussie spots in new teams right now (I would disagree somewhat) it wouldn't take that long to fill the gaps - more opportunities means more players will have incentive to compete for the extra spots. A-League coaches would look more closely at NPL as well, which seems to have dropped off a little (very small signing numbers from there anyway). This would only be a good thing for football development after a short period of implementation imo.
At work
Roar Rookie
While I don’t completely disagree with you, as a no-restriction foreigner policy would undoubtedly provide a better quality league; it would be at the expense of Aus football development as the NPL just isn’t good enough to take that responsibility. Add the fact that Asian Champions League only allows a 3+1 rule which is 3 foreigners and 1 Asian player, so we’d be scr3wing ourselves in that regard.
Johnno
Guest
I think the A-League should move to unlimited foreign imports(EPL style). The casual fan just wants to see the best product, local or foreign players are not important. And our best are overseas often anyway, and we can still have a marquee aussie rule to bring back an ageing Tim Cahill or Kewell type... And better product would equal more crowds/tv ratings. The NPL should have import restrictions though as should the Youth league. But it's not the A-league problem to develop socceroos.