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Mike Cockerill is nothing if not outspoken, and in an opinion piece for Fairfax yesterday, the doyen of the local press pack stated that Australian players should no longer jump at the chance to move to Europe.
Cockerill was writing after Danny Vukovic had his contract torn up by Turkish club Konyaspor, with the former Central Coast Mariners goalkeeper left in limbo by flaky head coach Ziya Dogan.
The fact that organisation at one of Turkey’s mid-tier clubs is chaotic should have come as no surprise – did no one else read Darius Vassell’s blog? – but it’s hard not to sympathise with Vukovic, who was shoved aside simply because new coach Dogan had too many foreigners in his squad.
But if Vukovic has learned the hard way that European transfers don’t always end in glory, is Cockerill right in his assessment that Australian players “are best advised not to jump at any offer that comes along.”
“The A-League is directly connected to Asia, and is a shop window to the world. Look for opportunity, by all means, but only when the circumstances and the timing are right,” Cockerill argues.
A fair point, but how do the players know when the timing is right?
Look at Mitch Langerak: he played just 21 games for Melbourne Victory, but will be on the bench for Borussia Dortmund when they run out in front of 80,000 fans against Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday night.
And Langerak has a good chance of featuring in the Bundesliga this season given that Dortmund’s number one Roman Weidenfeller is one of the most injury-prone goalkeepers in European football.
There’s a case to argue that the 1997 UEFA Champions League winners are in a different class to Turkish minnows Konyaspor, but essentially the sentiment is the same – when Australian players have had the chance to try their luck in Europe in the past, we’ve always simply wished them well and bid them adieu.
Perhaps that no longer needs to be the case, and with the likes of Jason Culina and Nicky Carle calling the A-League home, there’s no doubt that Australian players now have a viable domestic competition in which to ply their trade.
But with the season still only seven-months long and players forced to work around a difficult schedule for both the Asian and World Cups, it’s not hard to see why some of the nation’s middling talent might still be tempted by the bright lights of Europe.
Indeed, this season may prove somewhat of a litmus test for those aiming to claim a regular place in the Socceroos, even if new coach Holger Osieck has promised to cast a more serious look over locally-based talent.
A bleaker assessment might suggest that the calibre of players who leave the A-League simply haven’t been up to European standards, with Michael Beauchamp and Ruben Zadkovich already back in Australia, while David Carney struggles on at Dutch club FC Twente.
Let’s hope that young trio Adam Sarota, Michael Zullo and Tommy Oar receive some game time at FC Utrecht this season, but even if they don’t, does it mean that the majority of young Australian players should simply stay in the A-League?
How different would Mark Viduka’s career have been if he had the choice to stay in Australia? Or if Viduka is too obvious an example, what about Jason Culina?
Would they have earned the recognition they deserve – and the commensurate pay packets – had they not taken the leap and moved to Europe?
It’s an interesting hypothesis, and I’m keen to hear your views.
Should Australian players stick around in the A-League, or should they take a chance and head to Europe whenever the opportunity arises?