Compiled By Damien Davies
Hello All
Happy New Year to all. After a winter break, we have two months of action to catch up on. European football has been dominated by the big leagues of England, Spain and Italy over the fesitive season while many of the Asian leagues are yet to resume. The transfer window has been open, and as a result, never so much player movement for our Aussies Abroad. The Socceroos have had a break heading into the Romania clash later in February.
Transfers:- So many new faces making the move overseas. Hard to pick the trends, but Thailand and China seem to be popular destinations. A sprinkling of loan deals in England, and a few players with Socceroos experience returning to Australia. I would expect to see a lot of action on the field over the coming months and players have gone looking for first team football. Still a few guys recently released that are still looking for clubs, but over 190 Aussies now playing overseas.
Additions/changes to player database:
Andrew Barisic (22 Mar 1986) - transferred to East Bengal, India
Aziz Behich (16 Dec 1990) - transferred to Bursaspor, Turkey
Kerem Bulut (2 March 1992)- transferred to Akhiser Belediye GS, Turkey
Matthew Byrne (5 Jun 1992) - transferred to FK Teleoptik Zemun, Serbia
Shane Cansdell-Sheriff (10 Nov 1982) - loan to Rochdale AFC, England
Michael Cvetkovski (21 Nov 1987) - transferred to Yangon United, Myanmar
Dino Djulbic (16 Feb 1983) - transferred to Al Wahda, UAE
Matthew Fletcher (1 Jun 1992) - loan to Cambridge United FC, England
Petar Franjic (7 Apr 1992) - transferred to Bangkok Glass, Thailand
Apostolis Giannou (25 Jan 1990) - loan to Plantanias, Greece
Alex Grant (23 Jan 1994) - loan to Havant & Waterlooville, England
Adam Harris (20 May 1992) - transferred to Hayes & Yeading FC, England
Kym Harris (20 May 1992) - transferred to Hayes & Yeading FC, England
Patrick Kisnorbo (24 Mar 1981) - loan to Ipswich Town, England
Billy Konstantinidis (21 Apr 1986) - transferred to Ethnikos Gazoros, Greece
Aleksander Jovanovic (4 Aug 1989) - transferred to Suwon FC, Korea Republic
Steven Lustica (12 Apr 1991) - loan to Brisbane Roar
Kevin Ly (12 May 1996) - transferred to Burnley FC, England
Sasa Macura (28 Nov 1991) - loan to Szigetszentmiklosi TK, Hungary
Michael Marrone (27 Jan 1987) - transferred to Shanghai Shenxin, China
Ryan McGowan (15 aug 1989) - transferred to shandong Luneng Taishan, China
Matthew McKay (11 Jan 1983) - transferred to Changchun Yatai, China
Nathen Megic (30 Jan 1993) - transferred to A.S. Union Quinto, Italy
Kyle Nix (21 Jan 1986) - transferred to Suphanburi FC, Thailand
Erik Paartalu (3 May 1986) - transferred to Tianjin Teda, China
Adam Parkhouse (15 Dec 1992) - transferred to Stalybridge Celtic, England
Jovo Pavlovic (16 Aug 1989) - transferred to Mitra Kukar, Indonesia
Tomas Rogic (16 Dec 1992) - transferred to Celtic FC, Scotland
Jonas Salley (16 Mar 1982) - transferred to Guizhou Renhe, China
Anthony Skorich (19 Mar 1990) - transferred to Mitra Kukar, Thailand
Goran Subara (4 Apr 1987) - transferred to Bangkok Glass, Thailand
Milan Susak (29 Jan 1984) - transferred to Sephahan, Iran
Christos Tomaras (14 Jan 1989) - transferred to Paniliakos, Greece
Lenox Tweneboa (18 Jun 1989) - transferred to Yadanarbon FC, Myanmar
Removed from player database:
Hussein Akil (Woodlands Wellington) - returned to Australia, uncontracted
Eli Babalj (Red Star Belgrade) - transferred to Melbourne Heart
Kearyn Baccus (AC Siena) - returned to Australia, uncontracted
Adrian Caceres (Chiang Rai United) - whereabouts unknown
Joel Griffiths (Shanghai Shenhua) - transferred to Sydney FC
Daniel Gullo (FC Bayern Alzenau) - returned to Australia, uncontracted
Nick Modaffari (Parma) - returned to Australia, uncontracted
Jade North (Consadole Sapporo) - transferred to Brisbane Roar
Bruno Novo (Benefica de Macao) - whereabouts unknown
Mark Pullman (Bala Town) - transferred to non-league, UK
Liam Reddy (Esteghal Tehran) - transferred to NSWPL
Francesco Stella (Rangers FC) - transferred to Melbourne Victory
Dean Zammit (FC Bayern Alzenau) - returned to Australia, uncontracted
Club Level:-
England (Premiership) - A mixed few months for our Aussies in arguably the biggest league of them all. Our contigent at Aston Villa have been struggling a little with Brett Holman coming off the bench more than he would like, and Chris Herd back in the treatment room. Forty year old Mark Schwarzer continues to hold his place as starting keeper at Fulham. Not as many clean sheets these days, but certainly remains a top level player. Our other keepers had differing tales. Adam Federici (Reading) has returned to the starting line up and has been instrumental in the run his team have had out of the relegation places. Brad Jones has been called on a few times over the past few weeks, great to see him back in the mix.
England (Championship) - Earlier in the season our Aussies were holding automatic promotion places but they have slipped off the pace over the fesitive season. Mile Jedinak (Crystal Palace) continues his break out season with rumours of interest from the Premiership. Scott McDonald has pushed on to double figure goals this campaign and would be looking for a big second half of the season. Very pleasing to see Rhys Williams joining him in the starting eleven at Middlesborough after a long injury absence. Neil Kilkenny will be looking to keep his starting position in a struggling Bristol City outfit. Young keeper Seb Usai (Blackburn) is now on the pine at Blackburn and will hope to get an opportunity over the coming months. With well over 2000 minutes played this season, Shane Lowry is another having a career best season in defence for Millwall. Patrick Kisnorbo has gone on loan to Ipswich Town and is need of match practice.
England (League One) - Oldham are a frustrating club. Great one week, average the next - they managed to knock Liverpool out of the cup recently. With young keeper, Dean Bouzanis (23 starts) still keeping fellow Aussie Alex Cisak on the bench. Also seems as though James Wesolowski is going to spend more time on the pitch than in the treatment rooms this season, also having made 23 starts. Twenty year old Bailey Wright has made a similar number of starts for Preston North End. Loanee Bradden Inman has been a revelation at Crewe, with his four goals in two months earning him a loan extension.
England (League Two) - a special mention to James Meredith and Curtis Good (both Bradford City) who have won through to the League Cup final at Wembly in late February.
Germany (Bundesliga) - A month off over Christmas, but great to see a rare start for Mitch Langerak at Dortmund recently. Probably not as impressive as the brace scored by Robbie Kruse to earn Fortuna Dusseldorf some much needed points.
Italy (Serie A) - very quite for James Troisi at Atalanta of late with appearances off the bench rare.
Italy (Serie B)- not a dissimilar story for Carl Valeri at Sassuolo. I believe he is fit, so his absence is concerning. Young Liam Graham made the subs bench for Ascoli. Yes he has played youth football for NZ, but still eligible for Australia.
Netherlands (Eredivisie) - a good run of minutes for our Aussies at Utrecht until injury stuck down both Sarota and Oar. Jason Davidson (Heracles) has returned to the first team squad but is in and out of the starting eleven still.
Turkey ( Super Lig) - striker Kerem Bulut has now debuted for Akhiser Belediye GS, while Ersan Gulum continues in defence for Besiktas.
Scotland (Premier League) - Dylan McGowan has had an injury interupted few months but would hope to cement his place by the end of the season.Alex Baird has sat on the bench for all 24 Dundee fixtures this season, a fantastic learning experience for the nineteen year old gloveman.
Scotland (First Division) - the move up north seems to be paying dividends for Marc warren, having now played over 1500 minutes for Airdrie United this season.
Portugal (Primeira) - Caleb Patterson-Sewell (Vitoria Setubal) has made just three starts since his transfer so will be looking to build on that number in the run home as his club fights off relegation.
Cyprus (1. Division) - young midfielder Robert Stambolziev has now managed 14 appearances for Olympiakos Nicosia, justifying the move to Cyprus for senior football.
Malta (Premier League) - Jacob Borg continues his good form for Balzan Youths. So much so that he has raised talk of being called up to the Maltese national team this month.
Qatar (Stars League) - the three Aussies of Mark Bresciano (Al Gharafa), Matt Spiranovic (Al Arabi) and Sasa Ognenovski (Umm Salal) all continue to start for their respective teams barring the odd minor injury.
U.A.E. (UFL) - a little bit quiter in terms of scoring for Richard Porta (Dubai Club) over the past two months. Alex Brosque (Al Ain) is up to 8 goals in 10 starts. Dino Djulbic has made a smooth transition to Al Wahda.
India (I-League) - Tolgey Ozbey has scored in his past two starts for Mohun Bagan, while Andrew Barisic has debuted for Ozbey's former club East Bengal.
