Brisbane Roar have sold striker Adam Taggart to an unnamed Asian club, less than a year after the one-time Socceroos striker joined the A-League outfit.
The A-League strugglers announced on Thursday they had agreed an undisclosed fee for the 25-year-old, the move subject to Taggart passing a medical.
The switch comes less than 12 months after Taggart joined the Roar on a three-year deal from Perth Glory in May 2018.
It’s unknown where Taggart is heading but reports earlier in the week had indicated a top-tier Korean club had made an offer for his services.
Taggart has been one of the bright sparks in an underwhelming season for the Roar, scoring 11 goals in 18 appearances.
Only Sydney FC’s Englishman Adam Le Fondre (12) has more goals in the A-League this season.
Despite Taggart’s importance to the Roar, they have obviously decided to cash in on him.
“Adam has been a good servant for Brisbane Roar since his arrival and we wish him well with the next step in his career,” chief executive David Pourre said.
Taggart, who battled injury for the past two seasons before he linked up with the Roar, wished the club the best for the future.
“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the club, players, coaches and fans for their support during my time at BRFC,” Taggart said.
“I’m confident that the club can turn things around and have more success in the future.”
Taggart’s departure means the Roar head west for this weekend’s clash with league leaders Perth shorn of another experienced player.
Spanish midfielder Alex Lopez is suspended after he picking up his fifth booking of the season in the 2-1 win over Sydney last Friday, while goalkeeper Jamie Young is also unavailable despite successfully reducing his ban for a red card against Adelaide United from three matches to two in a disciplinary hearing on Wednesday night.
Defender Jack Hingert is also unavailable after he suffered a season-ending knee injury in the shock win over the Sky Blues while Luke DeVere is in doubt as he recovers from a knee complaint.
Young New Zealand defender Dane Ingham and Daniel Bowles will return from suspension.
At work
Roar Rookie
He’s a sad sack and I wouldn’t be too disappointed to sell him if I was a Roar supporter. Can the bloke crack a smile at least when he scores?! He has missed so many good chances, he should be leading the golden boot race this season. Anyway that kid that scored the winner against us (SFC) looked alright so giving him a start for the rest of the season is a big positive of this move.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Taggart is lazy, this is another sale of dodgy goods to Asia. Remember the sale of over the hill Berisha in ripping off Asian teams. In Japan and Korea they are aerially weaker but better and faster defenders on the ground. This idea you can go there and its weaker than Europe is totally wrong, you are better off going to Europe where you can exploit their big and slow defenders. Kennedy is the big success story in the J-league scoring heaps of goals and its obvious why. The Jets commited the ultimate act of stupidity selling Nabbout instead of getting rid of their useless imports and putting Nabbout on marquee wages. They paid for it with a grand final loss and now paying triple by not making the finals. anyone with half a brain could have talked Nabbout out of going by pointing out that his play style would be less effective in Japan versus elsewhere. In terms of attacking ground players only Brosque has had success in Japan. The K-league is similar but more physical, while Taggart has scored some headers they have been off free headers from slack marking.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
buy? not in our league. When offered the chance, he agreed to move.
Jordan Klingsporn
Roar Guru
Stole? I just meant buy or whatever.
Neil
Roar Rookie
I have always had the feeling is he was only ever going through the motions at the Roar.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
more the carry on by Adelaide crowd against Matt McKay just because one of their players kicked him and got a Red Card. That's the sort of rubbish NZ crowds regularly give visitors, and I think Perth too (but no example comes readily to mind). Nothing wrong with a razz to former players, all crowds do that but not overdone. I'm not sure what you mean 'stole'? That's the kind of parochial view I take, but doesn't make it right.
Waz
Roar Rookie
Nah, only Brattan and Nichols cop it from us. But it shouldn’t be taken too seriously, Bes used to thrive off the boooo’s and that’s what’s needed.
Jordan Klingsporn
Roar Guru
If we stole lets say Bautheac from you, you would probably be the same.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
Glory fans are quite immature like that. So too Adelaide, and Phoenix. Embarrassment.
Jordan Klingsporn
Roar Guru
Dang it. The Glory fans were planning to really give it to him on Saturday. Oh well, at least I don't have to experience the pain of him scoring.
Jordan Klingsporn
Roar Guru
Aloisi is a South Aussie and Taggart is a West Aussie so who are you talking about?
Buddy
Guest
That's a bit tough.After all, as good as he may be,DV is second to a player starting almost every game in the EPL. Vukovic would need to be at least playing in Spain or Italy to be considered on par with his rival for the gk spot.
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
He sort of played like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Bit strange - he's a fantastic talent, but maybe being out of the Australian spotlight will suit him up in Suwon.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
He seemed to be always on the fringe of injury, but I don't think he was unhappy at Roar. He just didn't smile a lot, even when he scored. The problem for us Waz, is that if a few of our young brigade show some promise in the window that's opening for them, every club south of the Tweed will be talking to them, like they did to Akbari.
Waz
Roar Rookie
Rumour is he had a “trigger clause” equivalent to one years salary. Rumoured to be near $400k.
Franko
Guest
Any idea of the transfer fee? I think when he signed he said he wanted to learn from John Aloisi, with him gone I guess he wanted to move on. Silly to leave his hometown really.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
Got to wish young Adam well. He's a much better striker than what he's delivered at Roar I think, and let's hope he can deliver in Korea. It will suit the young guys at Roar who we should see more of now, DWH and Daniel Leck, Shannon Brady and even D'agostino, all of whom must be crying out for more game time. I see all four are in the squad for this coming weekend, plus Izzie Powell and young Jay Barnett in midfield. All academy players. Nothing better than watching the young brigade coming through, come on you Roar boys.
Waz
Roar Rookie
It’s unfortunate but Taggart will earn a seven figure salary more than double what he gets here. For footballs sake he needed to stay at Brisbane, for his bank balance he needed to go. All the best to him. But I’ve never seen someone so miserable doing what they love though. Clearly he needed a change.
Waz
Roar Rookie
He’s done that this season already - 18/18 games and 83 minutes per game.
mrrexdog
Roar Guru
Look at Vukovic, prior to his move to Belgium in 2017, he’d made 2 attempts to move overseas, he signed with a Turkish club in 2010 but had his contract terminated before the start of the seasons and came back to the a league. He also spent six month on loan in Japan in 2014. Then at 32 he goes to Genk and is now the Socceroos 2nd choice.