Sarpreet Singh (FC Hansa Rostock | Germany)

Great opportunity for him.

However, I'm a little cautious when it comes to the chances of young Kiwis in Germany after Marco Rojas' experiences with Stuttgart.

Rojas proved too lightweight physically for German football and I fear the same with Singh.

The German third tier is reportedly quite physically challenging.

And it's such a huge leap from the A-League to the Bundesliga if Singh gets a sniff of first team action.

I have a feeling he won't make the first team and will follow Rojas' trajectory to smaller clubs in lesser leagues.

I'm skeptical too because of the experience of other young Kiwis in Germany like Aaron Lines and Mark Burton who were signed by Werder Bremen as teenagers but never made it to the first team, ending up in the German lower leagues before a return to NZ with the Football Kingz in Australia's national comp. (Aaron Lines was good enough to move on from the Kingz to Poland's top tier though)

I also believe there might be an element of Bayern wanting to use Singh as a marketing tool to break into the vast Indian football market. Although he's an Indian Kiwi, his name will still attract attention in India and amongst the Indian diaspora.  

It hasn't been kind to kiwi footballers but if a guy like Robbie Kruse can make it there then I believe Sapreet can too.

Amazing opportunity for Singh, really happy for the kid.

One thing I'd say though is that just because he's signed for Bayern doesn't mean they see a future for him in the first team. I think this is a big misconception when top clubs sign young and promising players. The majority of these moves are profit generating strategies. i.e. purchase a young footballer with talent at a relatively cheap price, with the intention to resell them for a nice profit in a couple of years. 500k is peanuts for Bayern, so if they have this strategy in mind they could easily make a few mill off a move like this.

So he'll have to work extremely hard to get an opportunity in the first team. With that being said, it's an amazing opportunity for the kid, an excellent line of the football cv, and will likely set him up for a long and prosperous career whether that's at Bayern or another European club. 

Whilst I do see your point, i'd hazard a guess and say that one of the add-on's that Dome mentioned were in the conract would be;

a) 'X' % of the profit of the sale of Sarpreet Singh; or

b) 'X' % of the total sale price for any potential future transfer.

When you're talking percentages between 15-30% (possibly more, possibly less) that's a significant amount of money to be passing on to us as his former club. Take into account his wages (minimal in the scheme of things, but add up) and the time spent on developing him, even if it is in the 3rd tier initially. With the time, money and effort they're going to putting into him over the term of his contract, Bayern will most likely want the ROI to be him getting into the frame for first team selection.

Agree that it will be a very steep learning curve for him. If he does the same way as Rojas I hope he is luckier and or smarter with his future moves as Rojas has never impressed anywhere outside of the A league, aside from maybe half a season with FC Thun.

Singh is a vastly different prospect to Rojas, Singh appears waaay more grounded and less "certain" about how fabulous he is. Rojas' dad/manager probably hasn't helped his cause. I don't see singh's management making the same mistakes. Plus, for mine Singh is a much better player now than Rojas was at a similar age.

Not sure I agree; I think Rojas still seems like a pretty grounded guy, and I also think he was more consistently good at the same age as Singh. However, I also think it's easier for a younger player out wide v being a younger player basically tasked with the entire creative burden of the team. Singh has unique skills that I haven't seen much out of NZ; it really just depends on whether he can improve his major flaws too (easily bundled off the ball, very inconsistent, loses it in dangerous areas too often etc.)

I've mentioned before that memories on this forum tend to be very short, and people forget just how good Marco was in this league - he actually was tearing it up in his last couple of seasons here.

Yes, Rojas seriously tore the league apart in his two stints with MVC. Singh has done very well for us but I don't think he's shown more potential than Marco at his age.
They are different players of coursebso hopefully things will go better for Sapreet then they did with mini judas.

An overused cliche for sure, but it’s clear that Singh has a great, Özil-like footballing IQ and I feel that his weaknesses are far more easily adaptable and improvable in a pro European environment than Rojas’ were. Some improvements in decision making needed for Singh but he has the capacity to run a team

Rojas needed the false nine system to get going at Melbourne. He's a wing forward. His strength is dribbling and close control.

Singh is a different player who plays head up with a greater passing range. We haven't had a young player who can run a game as he can do in my memory.

I always though the major issues Rojas encountered overseas were consistent badly timed injuries. That could happen to anyone. Singh seems the opposite of injury prone though thankfully.

Not sure Rojas was injury prone either (or is now) - it was just one big bad injury that really hit him at a bad time (a bit like Thomas at PSV)

Yeah it's possibly just the one big injury at a really bad time. IIRC at the time he was training with the first team and starting (and scoring) during pre-season friendlies.

Yep. A lot of 'making it in Europe' is dependent on luck as well as skill - being in the right place at the right time (i.e. someone gets injured a position needs to be filled), having the right coach and staying fit etc.

It's why I hesitate to say Rojas or anyone else 'failed'. If youre picked up in the first place and continue to make a career out of it you're already way past most.

https://www.wellingtonphoenix.com/news/wellington-phoenix-player-sarpreet-singh-signs-german-super-club-bayern-munich?fbclid=IwAR0QEG7Tt0YezzXtu9AUXLbP51w8ItfYIbE-ODMIETOEtXmdYWI-Qm2jA_

Congrats Sarpreet! How amazing!

Rojas had a major liability, his father!

See you all in the kiwis overseas thread. Huge news

Moved from Wellington Phoenix Discussion to Kiwi Players Overseas

What’s the fee? 

No one is confirming it, don't expect the Nix to say what they got but have seen report of $850k. 

Dome said it's their biggest ever, including McKain. Which probably means the McKain transfer wasn't as big as reported.

I thought McKain was in the 300-400k range? 

Reported at a Mill for McKain.

The might be saying biggest when taking in the sell on + additional clauses and what they anticipate to potentially gather there...

$100k per 1st team appearance (x10 max) etc.

I don't think Bayern would shirk at something like that, because they would have still grabbed a player worthy of a spot on their team for less than 2 mill NZ. A steal considering the market today... and if he doesn't make it - the never have to pay out the money.

It's some money that's paid in trade for services, but  that's not important right now...

Beat me to it.

USD ?

Cool article on the Bundesliga website about Sarpreet. Some nice comparisons to Mesut Ozil as well!

https://www.bundesliga.com/en/bundesliga/news/who-...

More competition at Bayern II for Sarpreet as they sign another attacking midfielder from Chelsea:

https://www.skysports.com/app/transfer/news/12691/...

Not really I think, he is 16 so a good chance he will be in the u18.

Singh played 62 min in 2:1 pre season win against FC Liefering

https://www.bavarianfootballworks.com/2019/7/6/20684180/bayern-munich-ii-reserves-u23-final-score-recap-result-highlights-fc-liefering-red-bull-salzburg

Singh with the assist for the first goal - in typical Singh fashion, it's a beautiful curling through ball beating the defense

http://platintv.com/#/spiel/{EE89D6F6-9508-4F9F-99DC-F729B96A9910}

Phillip Rollo reporting on Twitter that the word is Sarpreet will join Bayern's first team pre-season tour! Unreal news if true!

Arsenal, Real Madrid & AC Milan.

Be pretty cool if he got on the field for any of those games.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/world-game/114213432/sarpreet-singh-selected-for-bayern-munichs-preseason-tour-of-usa

Be even better if he finishes Mustafi's career.

The US tour will be quite different experience than sitting at David Farrington and nobody cares, he probably has lot of groupies.

But I like to see how Singh and Müller interact on and off the pitch.

Let’s not get too carried away - he might just be playing against Arsenal, Real Madrid or AC Milan - pub football.....