The English Premier League has long had an affinity with Australian goalkeepers – Mark Bosnich, Adam Federici, John Filan, Brad Jones, Mat Ryan and Mark Schwarzer have played between the sticks for several of its clubs over the past 30 years.
Another Australian now joins the goalkeeper’s union of the English top flight, with Adelaide United’s Joe Gauci’s arrival at Aston Villa.
It has been quite the meteoric rise for a player who almost gave up the sport a few years ago – after becoming disillusioned with the often-maligned Australian football pyramid of trying to become a professional player.
Gauci was a player many within South Australia expected to make the grade professionally from a very young age – His talent was clear to see at junior levels with both Cumberland United and West Torrens Birkalla.
With Adelaide United already stockpiling the nation’s best young goalkeepers, Gauci had no option but to head interstate at the age of 18 – signing a scholarship deal with the Central Coast Mariners.
In the first of two consecutive ill-fated moves to the east coast, Gauci was let go by the Mariners followed by Melbourne City.
When all looked lost, Gauci was handed a lifeline by a coach who he had previously played under at the SA NTC and always believed in his talent: Carl Veart.
Veart was now the full-time coach of Adelaide United in 2020 and in a sliding doors moment – an injury to United’s No.1 at the time James Delianov – Gauci was able to make his debut and the lanky stopper has held onto that jersey ever since.
Joe Gauci. (Photo by Damian Briggs/Speed Media/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Goalkeeping is by far the most cerebral position on the pitch, where you can make an outrageous save one moment and then see your mind state crumble when another shot simply trickles through your legs.
Gauci’s mental fortitude is one of his most undervalued qualities, from nearly giving up the sport to being able to recover from a mistake made in a match; that ability to pick yourself back up, while remaining calm is a skill that many young goalkeepers struggle with.
He is a natural-born leader ever since being a captain in his junior sides. Whether it’s his teammates listening intently when he speaks or fielding tricky questions whilst on media duties, Gauci commands respect.
The clean-cut shot-stopper is always happy to chat with fans and his work as an ambassador
for the Childhood Cancer Association has not gone unnoticed.
There are still kinks in his game that must be improved if Gauci is to make it in Europe.
While his shot-stopping ability is exemplary, distribution from the back – in particular when starting an attacking move – needs further development.
At 6’4″ Gauci has the height to clutch a ball from a cross in front of a pack of players, but as seen by multiple teams in the A-League, Gauci has been targeted from set pieces and crosses where he sometimes doesn’t show the necessary strength to hold onto the ball.
But ultimately a goalkeeper is judged on keeping the ball out of the back of the net and Gauci has single-handedly kept Adelaide in the finals hunt in the clubs spluttering 2023-24 season.
He has faced 64 shots and saved 47 of them, for a high shot-saving percentage of 73 per cent. Then there is the much-maligned distribution percentage…
As one of the areas of improvement required to take the next step, Gauci’s pass accuracy overall has been a very respectable 82.8 per cent – with the only letdown being a disappointing longball accuracy of 41.8 per cent.
The move to Aston Villa will see Adelaide United recoup over $3 million AUD and a sell-on clause inserted should he transfer again.
Gauci faces an uphill task in surpassing Villa’s world cup winning shot-stopper Emilio Martinez for the coveted No.1 jersey.
But the young Australian needs to look no further than his predecessor from 30 years ago for inspiration, Mark Bosnich – who overtook regular Aston Villa goalkeeper Nigel Spink and played nearly 200 games in a seven-year spell for the villans.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
time will tell
Brisbanefan93
Roar Rookie
Right fair enough. Personally don’t see it but hope villa and Joe prove me wrong.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
all things you mentioned would help, but then you also have to look at the final product - senior international football. why isnt there a proper scouting/monitoring network that is available to whoever is coach of the socceroos that they can pull up data on any of the few hundred australian born or players that qualify to player for australia across all age groups in europe? (eg. 14 year old winger playing in georgia) instead they have an assistant coach who is based in europe, trying to cover the whole continent - Europe cannot properly be monitored by one man. (i have doubts that even the whole of qld can be monitored by one man, let alone all of europe haha)
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
not an assumption my friend, im talking facts in terms of percentages of all the attributes of his goalkeeping over the past 2 years his percentiles when it comes to all things goalkeeping have improved in the past 24 months - eg save percentage, distribution figures
Sheffield WesDay
Roar Rookie
So what is the answer? More A League Clubs? NST? DO players need to do the same as young Volpato and make that very early move at 16? (I understand his story is a different one to Joe's). Just knuckle down at club and "hope" for the best? Or is it just a matter of the players will and commitment to the "pathway"? ( of which most of the time we are walking it blind and hoping we dont go off the cliff). I have a son (well three) playing u15 League 1 in Brissy, also involved in the FQ academy (old TSP program), and it does make it difficult to make the right decisions and take the right steps give him the best chance of pursuing his dream, knowing that the pros were passing on players like Joe. It is no wonder he was thinking of quitting. With A League clubs passing over what was clearly a very promising talent in Joe at that crucial age where the kids are making decisions as to whether to give up or double down, surely we are missing some amazing talent.
Brisbanefan93
Roar Rookie
Out of curiosity when you suggest that his shown improvement over the last couple years in those. How do you make those assumptions.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
definitely not fake news. i never had henry blackledge in my GK database, however i had heard of his name due to western pride and the pride has always been one of the semi pro QLD sides ive followed for several years due to the amount of solid players they have produced. just because he wasnt in my database doesnt mean he isnt a good keeper - its hard to keep a track of every single player
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
all the issues you mentioned (which i also did) have shown improvement year upon year - especially in the last 2 years and yes he is more of a 'shot stopper' than a 'goalkeeper' - but the base is already there and hes shown improvement to become a 'goalkeeper' joes nowhere near the finished article (but not many goalies are at his age) it will be interesting at villa because they have a brand new GK coach after the previous long term one left for wolves
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
adelaide couldnt give him minutes which is the only reason he had to move to the east coast. look at the sheer amount of gks adelaide has produced during the a league (galekovic, gauci, hall, delianov, magush, izzo, birighiti, cook, cox) absurd list of talent the mariners and city experiences were both very different for joe at the mariners he had ben kennedy and adam pearce in front of him, pearce in particular had an iron clad grip on the #1 academy team jersey - couple this with joe having to also deal with doing year 12, that was always going to be really tough for him. the city experience jaded him a lot more (like it did with a lot of adelaide teenagers) When michael petrillo left adelaide united for melbourne city, he was also influential in taking close to 20 south australian born players with him over a 3 year period (joe was one of them) the problem with the majority of those south australian player was that melbourne city operate like all CFG clubs - purely stockpiling players for the sake of it. its not uncommon for talent to be missed, but alot of the time theres circumstances out of everyones control
Kitwally
Roar Rookie
Question for you SecretScout: What’s the story behind that 18yo(?) Brisbane Roar keeper that just got signed by Luton Town? Can’t remember his name. Nothing in the media about it. Maybe fake news?
Sheffield WesDay
Roar Rookie
The fact that again, two other A League clubs turned him down and could not see his ability and potential worries me. What is doing with our talent identification? This seems to be a common story in Aus. Gauci is not the only one in recent times. Why are our football "decision makers" not identifying these players. Is it still just a case of who you know, not what you know? Are they looking at the wrong indicators? Are the top clubs not communicating with the Grass root elite (ie: NPL clubs) on their players? I know what I think it is, but I would really keen to hear what you think SS.
Brisbanefan93
Roar Rookie
Not sure what that has to do with my comment. As I said I’d be worried if he was my number 2 not my number 1 at EPL /European level. As I said good luck to him, personally I don’t see the hype although I don’t watch Adelaide every week but from what it’s worth as an old washed up keeper. His distribution and command of the box seem a weakness (maybe putting on a bit of weight will help as you have mentioned) He concedes too many soft goals in my opinion but is also able to produce some worldies at the same time. Seems to be as a goal keeper coach of mine used to say a reactive keeper and not a proactive keeper. (Eg good at one on one/reactive stops but footwork/positioning needs work) Not sure if that has something to do with the current coaching of keepers in this country but I feel like we producing much more keepers with poor footwork. Hopefully playing/training at the higher level can help with those deficiencies and from an Australian football point of view he can kick on and forge a career at a top top level.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
persistence is the key for any young kids in australia
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
forget australian keepers, how many 23 year old european or south american keepers have been starters straight away at a top 5 euro league club? not many
Brisbanefan93
Roar Rookie
Good luck to the kid. His a good aleague level keeper but personally not sure he has the top top level in him. I’d be worried if I was a villa if he was to become their number 2.
Redcap
Roar Guru
Nice write-up - thanks Scout. Nigel Spink - now there's a blast from the past! He made his one and only international appearance on a tour of Australia in 1983. But his main claim to fame is making one his first (if not his first) appearances for Aston Villa as a substitute in the 1982 European Cup final, and proceeding to miraculously deny the likes of Breitner and Rummenigge in a 1-0 victory. I hear Villa is doing quite well this season, maybe even a chance of getting into the CL. Perhaps Joe can emulate Mr Spink toward the end of next season. :happy:
Brendan
Roar Pro
Spot-on. Here’s a player with oodles of talent, just crying out for higher opportunities. There are some absolute gems in the A-League, Gauci being one of them. I was always critical of Joe, but his persistence has been amazing.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
has all the attributes to play in the premiership (needs to put on a bit more muscle for my liking) - the problem is the GK who is in front of him and how consistent a shot stopper martinez is. from what i am aware, villa will shift olsen - so gauci should immediately be second choice at the end of the season
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
his story is very common in terms of being cut multiple times, but its that resilience to want it so bad that makes his story very special and is a good lesson for any kids
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
1) was also a premier league club 2) more common than you think inparticular the criminal ties: *i've spoken in length about an ex adelaide united youth team captain who would not give up his frienship with known criminals - said player is now going through court over an assault charge. *nestroy irakunda has family members with an extensive criminal history (not implying the player is like that) *another ex adelaide united players brother is a high ranking bikie in adelaide (not implying the player is part of that lifestyle) 3) 4 year contract