Another A-League club showing very limited imagination in looking for signings. Jair was okay but not worth a foreign spot at all.
We’re a few weeks into the season, their squad is essentially done and they still have two foreign spots available. Define “worth a foreign spot” in that context.
If he improves what they have and fits in well with what the team and what the coach is trying to do, then it’s fine. Particularly if he’s motivated enough to stay in Australia that he’s reduced his wage demands.
You really don’t want to waste a foreign spot if they are not markedly better than local options. Jair scored two goals last season and he’s supposed to play up front or at least as a winger. He didn’t show that much when he was out there.
The football world is a big place. Recycling average foreign players is really just attempting to recycle garbage. It’s just stupid. Might I also point out how the clubs are making noise about trying to give younger players opportunities? We will see very quickly whether it really is just hot air but I suspect I already know the answer.
The clubs aren’t really. Apart from them wanting the larger benches (which they now have, thank god) they would prefer more visa spots than less. It’s the FFA who want less visa spots now that their focus is on the national team and youth development.
I hope it happens - completely disruptive, would bring some crowds but derail Perths season completely - the fireworks between him and popovic would be hilarious.
If he was signing for the rest of the season, that is a different story
Sage finally got his long sought after piece of major silverware and ACL spot so fair enough if he wants to spunk some of his money on rubbing shoulders with celeb players.
Meanwhile it will get huge amounts of attention. Cue tremendous disdain for the HAL (if MLS and LA ain’t enough for Zlatan, what to make of HAL and Perth??). Cue endless promo shots of him kicking a Sherrin with AFL players. However, for all those negatives, it will remind everyone that there is only one team sport where you can be a world star (well, maybe NBA too) and at the end of the day, it’s the AFL mob who will be brown-nosing and courting a proper footballer and it will show as such subservience. Over to you Tony P.
The above link didn’t work for me so here’s another one:
A 6 game deal plays into some of the mickey mouse-ism the league can be accused of but hell, it might be worth it just for the media.
Thats what i havent liked about his MLS run at all. Some lines about being ‘bigger than the league’ is fine, everyone knows hes put on an act for years that has become more than that, but the total disregard for everyone including teammates is total shithouse imo.
That’s the way I look at it. Happy for the trade off of the Micky Mouse aspect for the benefits that having him play here would produce. At least if he were playing for Perth, there would be decent players alongside him as well, so the uninitiated observer would perhaps watch some games and think “Some of those other players are actually pretty good” - Fornorolli, Castro etc.
Oh and yeah, Popa would not be able to manage him at all. Popa seems to think he can manage egos, and has signed players like Saba in the past but it always ends in Popa getting the shits and pushing the player out of the club.
I think he’d be too arrogant to come to Perth and possibly rightly so. He is the the most sought after free agent at the moment and European giants like Napoli are interested. Why would he go from a city like Los Angeles that is full of a-listers and has hosted David Beckham, to Perth of which is a 7 hour flight to the main cities which will host games nearly every second week? I would love to see him come, he would be great for the league and I don’t think it will be as easy for him as some expect, but this is the MOST arrogant footballer.
Good post. Deep down we all know it won’t happen. But let’s have today at least!
Why would you want to see him come?
I can speak in the third person if that is what you crave
I think it’d be a boost for the league if he came but yeah it’s a long shot.
“At the moment”? He’d’ve been the most sought after free agent in the world at just about every stage of his career, certainly in the last 10-15 years, and would definitely not have lacked interested from “European giants” (particularly if Napoli counts) when he chose to leave for MLS. None of that is new or novel.
It really comes down to what he wants. He may well crave a season or few more of football at the highest level he can get after a couple of years in the MLS, but then again he may well want the exact opposite. He is 38, and would realistically have to settle for a lesser role at a big side in a strong league, while in Australia he is unquestionably the star of his team and the face of the league, and good enough to be single-handedly winning games here and there like he has been in the US.
If the money’s right (and the league should really be throwing every last cent of marquee fund and marketing budget at getting Perth over the line for this one) and he can live on a mansion by a beach close to a city with an excellent climate, in a wealthy Western country where he’s fluent in the local language and hasn’t worn out the novelty of his presence, then maybe that ticks enough boxes.
They sent his management an email 2 weeks ago, & haven’t heard anything back yet? Why is there even articles being written about this rubbish?
Articles is better than no articles. In two years of being behind NRL off-season in the media hierarchy, anything that reminds people there’s a football league running in this country is good.
Click-bait has value these days…
… though apparently they are saying ‘guest stint’, so that would work for Slatan - paid holiday around Australia for a bit…