You could really say that about any player at any club though. No contract is binding these days and anyone can leave at any point…and often do.
I feel that a player who signs a contract with a club, knowing that there will be opportunities to go overseas and move up, in the future, is less likely to walk out on a club or demand to be released from their contract. If Grant was planning on leaving soon, he would have asked for a one year deal.
I think much of the past and present success of Sydney FC is due to our reputation for rehabilitating footballers’ careers. After the ADP experiment, we focused on younger marquees and overseas players such as Marc Janko, Bobo, Adrian, M1los, Milo2, Jordy Buijs, etc. Players with good years still in them but whose careers had lagged. We take them in, sign them for three years and give them game time. And if an overseas club wants to take them off our hands while they still have time on the contract, we point to the release clause and say thank you very much, next please.
And each player that leaves becomes one more scout for the club.
It seems a good formula for success in an industry where there will always be employee turnover but if we ever get greedy and refuse to let players, who want to go, go then the formula will be broken.
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I’d say history has shown this to be patently untrue.
Agreed. It was an utter cunt move by Vuck to keep Milligan from a dream move to Palace in the EPL, when there was perfectly respectable money on the table. Wasn’t there a $1m bid?
Nah fuck him, that was hilarious.
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That’s exactly why he should have had a release clause.
If we get a 30% sell-on fee then a $500k release clause is a good bit of business.
Excellent news on Grant and O’Neill. Very pleasant surprise on both counts.
We, along with other A-League clubs, are interested in Roy Krishna:
On paper, I’d be happy with that, but he is 31 and it would depend on what other options we have up front.
31 is the new 26 for good, fit players. Barca bought Arturo Vidal last year at about the same age. As for Krishna, I would take him in heartbeat.
We seem to get linked to every single off contract player that has an agent trying to bump up his value
Yeah, I agree. Would be keen for Krishna though, seems to be able to convert nothing moments into goals.
Krishna would be a good Brosque replacement. Works hard, makes a lot of chances by winning the ball high up and transitioning quickly.
I never thought Vidal and Krishna could ever be mentioned in the same paragraph and in the same context 
Honestly, I think we should pass on Krishna. Historically he has been VERY hot and cold. Only under Rudan has he been consistent enough to warrant talk of bigger clubs coming in for him.
That’s on the team, not him. He’s seemed hot and cold for the last few years because typically if he hasn’t scored Wellington have lost. Now they have a decent structure around him and he is part of a puzzle, instead of a get-out-of-jail free card that occasionally buys you a point you don’t deserve.
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If you had to give a rating for our recruitment this season, including factoring in signing an injury prone player as marquee and an unheard of Dutch CB alongside the likes of Le Fondre, Tratt, Cáceres, Reza, Austin and De Silva - what would it be?
Maybe a 7 out of 10. Alfie was a great piece of business but the 2 Dutch guys were a gamble that didn’t pay off. DeJong has shown glimpses of class but it was a big risk with his injury history and it’s come back to bite us. Jop has been a bit of a disaster but I still hold out some hope for him.
Tratt has turned out WAY better than I anticipated so kudos to the club for that signing but I feel DDS has been a bit of a disappointment so far.
To early on the rest but I have a feeling Reza will be a great signing.
So a real mixed bag
Maybe an 8, but lower if we count the players we lost. I don’t hold SDJ against the club because it’s clear they took a calculated risk on a player who could have been dominant if kept fit and it didn’t work out.
Yeah, I’m with you. I think the club underestimated the impact of clarkey leaving in regards to SDJ. Overall, recruitment has been very good.
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