Nix Transfer Speculation 2019-20

Sometimes when I read posts on this forum I wish it had a laugh react like Facebook

I worry that people will not realise you are joking.

I think Rojas will be a disappointment for Victory fans this time around. He is an okay player but not as good as he looked when surrounded by an excellent team. This Victory team is rubbish and he will not be the leader/quality player to transform them.

On paper that's a very portent attack they now have with Kruse, Toivenen, Nabbout  and Rojas.

There midfield probably lets them down a bit tho. 

Corey Brown is rubbish, letting him go is no loss cuz Traore is the starting LB. Dobras is an AM, so that won't effect their defence. If its Poulsen who goes, he isn't a huge loss either.

If they could add Rojas and pick up another CB so DJ Brox can move back into midfield, that will make them very competitive.

[Edit: Forgot about Hoogland, when he gets fit that gives them another CB]

Anyone who said in this forum that Rojas should not be signed by the nIx should just admit they are clueless about football and be banned by the mods for the rest of the season

Surely it depends on what he costs. 500k plus no thanks... 200k, sure. 

I reckon double that, if not triple it!! :)

But I don't think Rojas had any inclination to come back to Wellington. He's been in Melbourne since he left Europe. He's got a house there and always wanted to go back to Victory (where he has had past success) by the looks of it.

I don't think he will ever come back to us. He only ever played 20 games for us as a kid before fudgeing off to the vuck. 

And that is part of the argument.  Talay has a different recruitment plan the YF forum and all kudos to him for what he's done to date.

The world is full of excellent players, some of them with past NZ or HAL links, but not all of them will be playing for the Nix.

IMHO the more Kiwis who play for non-Nix clubs - where they are Visa players and therefore elite, making Aussies cheer for them - the better.

Rojas would have been good signing, but personally I think he would have surplus to requirements atm for us

Second time round really doesn't work for us. Smeltz, Barbs, Burns. All forwards and Johnny Warren Medal winners curiously.

Only successful returnee was Moss in goal.

Have a horrible feeling he'll end up in the former category.

Exactly. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, post Rojas's 3rd signing for Victory - but I always thought he was at best hope a half season signing for the Nix, and only if he couldn't come to terms to any of the Victorian clubs in short term. His 'home base' these days is Melbourne. House there, 3-4 years living there as an adult, few mates there no doubt, plus a lot of success with the Victory (a big A League club) and probably a few Victory staff/ex players still around the scene. He played with Nabbout and Broxham when last there. Plus he can have regular coffee catchups with Archie Thompson. It will be a bit like he never left, which if he was getting all miserable and down, under those long winter grey cold Danish skies on bumpy paddocks, is maybe what he wants right now.

Contrast with NZ's capital, a much smaller version of Melbs with sharktier weather. He's not from Welly, probably has few if any mates there having left as a 19 yr old kid. I imagine nearly all of the Nix staff/playing group have moved on since then. A smaller A League club, that is doing well now, but has nowhere near the success record of the VUC. He will of course know a few of the Nix's AW players.

Haven't read any stories about Rojas being sited in that other great Australasian river city, the Tron, since he left Denmark. He was hedging all his bets on his 'home city' Melbourne. Have also never heard him, state that the Nix were his 'boyhood club' or such, and that he would love to bring the Toilet Seat to Wellington. The sort of thing you read about with some older players. The YF Fever scholarship story, is great yarn, but just don't see Marco interested in ever returning. 

Also just don't see an expensive signing like Rojas, fitting the model that Talay/Dome are now looking to build. Even short term. Personally I like the model for a smaller club like the Nix. Of course selling a Singh is maybe a once in a 20 year event - but Cacace may sell for not a lot less. Piscopo etc who knows.

But who knows for sure, re the players Talay thinks he needs. I guess Gary Hooper is likely a short term, relatively expensive signing.

However as soon as it was announced Rojas was leaving Denmark, Talay ruled him out. Be fascinating to know if this was 100% honest truthful. In this situation his is the only viewpoint that really matters. He will know fully what the Nix need, to have a real serious shot at the title. He knows the main competition inside out. He knows if Hooper will likely be firing on full cylinders come season end (so important to Nix's title chances). Hopefully he knew before yesterday that Davila will miss a chunk of games!

Was he really interested in Rojas, and felt like he needed him to have a full crack at a championship - and Welnix just said no, we don't have the cash? Or does he like the project he is building, and Rojas would have just been potentially a disruption to that/surplus to requirements, even short term?

Yes winning an A League title would be fantastic for the Nix, and NZ Football. Massive short/medium term boost. But winning one title doesn't guarantee long term success, on field or the off field. Just ask Jets & CCM. Needs of course to be a 'sustainable' model.

If Talay/Welnix weren't genuinely interested in a 28 year old former A League star, then they will have their reasons.

Agreed. The same goes for having decent Australian players here, especially the up and coming ones like Devlin or Piscopo.  It makes for a very different sense of respect on both sides of the ditch if it becomes an embedded long term thinking.

No AUS players ever gracing Nix benches were part of the AUS national squad (with Burns the only exception if I recall) but the opposite is very much the case. The fact that we (AUS/NZ) do not compete against each other in WC qualifiers makes the above all the more important and valuable.

Yep, rumors are 1.5 million over three years.

I find this an absolutely bizarre piece of writing. The success of Talay's squad is virtually built on experienced players with European background (Davila/Ball/Steinmann/Taylor/Hooper/Marinovic, hell, add even Devere to that lot), none of whom would have come cheaply. Let's not pretend that this is a squad run on a shoe-string, punching way above its weight. I mean, there's two ex-Premier League players there, and ex-Bundesliga player, other guys with good overseas experience - but Marco somehow doesn't fit into that model?

Puhhh-leeease.

I'm talking about bringing in Rojas as a short term, almost stop gap signing. Only Hooper & Steinman of the above are signed short term. 

Also most of the older guys you list above, have seemingly come to the Nix highly motivated. Definitely Ball. Guessing same Marinovic, Devere trying to resurrect their careers. Taylor reportedly had bigger offers overseas. You saying Rojas would come with that same mindset for 4-5 months?

Yes Hooper will probably end up an expensive, one season fling - but Talay had been looking for his visa striker for a long time, they are limited in number, don't come cheap and he needed to act quick. An exception to what Nix will normally do going forward.

I'm guessing Talay is liking the progress enough of say Piscopo at the mo, so had no interest in the Hobbit at this stage of the season.

But if you are close to Ufuk, ask him. For some reason it appears he didn't want him.

If you are thinking Rojas would ever consider the Nix/Welly long term, without a very large jump on VUC's offer, you need to stop smoking crack and live in Melbourne (like a good few of the posters on here it seems) for a time.

And Rojas has reportedly cost Victory $500K a season. Welnix got room for that extra cost at the moment? Who of the current Nix squad/players you name above would be at that level? Every 'model' has a limited cap.

Just think when Marco tears up the league again, you can go on a smug told you so rant, to me, Welnix and Uffie. Some people do smug irritatingly, very well.

A purist view that "Rojas is excellent therefore he needs to play for us" is of course commendable but does not get us anywhere. Talay recruited people who wanted to play for us, short (Steinmann) or long (Davila) term. We know Rojas is not in that camp.

We have no idea how much WelNix are spending on those who are harder to replace (Davila, Hooper, etc) hence it is hard to compare the $$$ but my guess is that Rojas would ask for more than $1.5M over 3 years to spend his time here instead of at Victory.  

I just find the whole argument bizarre. Nobody is dissing Rojas or claiming that he is not a very good player. We know he would be visa free and is (was) available (not anymore). However, since he was not even reported as being in serious talks with us, it shows that neither he nor Welnix were sufficiently interested.  I do not consider the troll posts by "NZ Football" and Wikipedia tampering as reliable facts.

So playing for the Nix is a burden short term or his dad said no to micky mouse teams.

Rojas reportedly asking for $500,000 per season from Victory 

His Dad would have simply advised him to do what's best for his career. 

He did that once before, without the need to call us names.

That seems reasonable. We have most likely paid players more than that per season.

Fixed.

Finally the voice of reason has prevailed on this forum. 

Dunno if prevailed is the right word. The debate seems to be well into added on time.

Like the two Koreas, I doubt there will be a full formal cessation of hostilities on this one.

Nix may have paid $500K a season on some past players, but the owners & Dome will have learnt from that. Be interesting to know what Hooper is on.

I reckon it would take $700K plus/year to lure Rojas away from his nice Melbourne lifestyle. He's shown zero interest in the Nix since he left. And just don't see Talay being esp keen on an older player, who's main reason for coming to Welly would be the coin, and that's not dissing Rojas, just stating the reality that Melbs is his 'home' and Wgtn not. Nearly all of the older players Rudan/Talay have bought to Nixville are seeking an adventure, new challenge or trying to resurrect a career - and seem motivated to perform well. From afar Hooper is the one still have some questions on in that regard, but still time.

Anyway in the bigger picture, do hope Rojas kills it for Victory. Have some doubts, but hope he does. That will only be good news for the AWs in this WC cycle, and hopefully Hay can bring more out of him at the international level, than the Hudson era ever did.

From what I understand, Hooper is the best paid player for the Phoenix ever. And considering the money that Kosta was on here, he may not be too far off seven figures.

yeah, I know but considering nothing official is made public just gave myself a little wriggle room.

... I'm no Hooper-hater, but for someone who is certainly of less value to us than Davila or Taylor, possibly on a Ball level, I'm not impressed with value for money here.

Patience will tell all

Remind me what the alternative striker options were when we signed him? Scarcity means things are more expensive.

Yeah we're paying more for less output to date but that's due to Uli is completely outperforming expectations and we score for fun when Hooper is on the pitch (if I remember Dale's stats correctly). Also its hardly like David Ball is playing poorly, he's one of the top assisters in the league!

Personally, I'm gonna enjoy the football we're playing rather than griping that someone else is spending their own money.

I'm just saying, if we could have had Marco for the same price...

(not that we necessarily could have, he may despise Wellington as a place to live, I wouldn't know)

Okay thanks. 

So given a large swathe of the current squad (incl 3 of the 5 visa players) have been re-signed (some like Taylor yes likely now upgraded) - Talay should have the green light from Welnix, to dip back into the top end market if Hooper leaves at season end.

A squad salary budget benchmark, has effectively been set now for Talay. He will looking for his own pay rise no doubt, and the last thing Nix need is having to go to look for a 5th coach in 5 seasons. Ufuk himself will need an upgrade.   

If Hooper leaves, and given the make up of the current squad - you would think that again, that attempted expensive player signing will be a visa striker. Another reason why I think Rojas was never a serious long term option for Welnix. They were not prepared to give Talay money for both, even if the coach really wanted the Hamilton Hobbit. Who knows for sure.

Just on this point - the squad salary budget is effectively set by the league. It's called the salary cap floor, which is set at $2.88m Aus for this season. The top two paid players don't count under the salary cap (the salary cap for this season is $3.2m Aus for this season.

Huh?  You're putting Ball further down the list? Ball is actually just as important as those others you mentioned.  Ball has been absolutely key for us this season, as he is incredibly unselfish maybe some people don't see it.

I think a lot depends on what motivates players to make a move to the Antipodes. Others have commented on that already for example that for some it could be "resuscitating" their career stalled through injury (Hooper) or by lack of exposure (Davila).  

But what I do not know is what motivates locals (AUS/NZ) to come home from Europe while still in their prime.  So I am less interested in the reasons why McDonald might be back in HAL (first WU now Roar) as he is still a very good player but clearly in the later stages of his career. I am more interested why someone like Marco Rojas would choose to come back to HAL when he is still in his prime.

and that is something that is un-answered. This guy kills it in the a-league when he is close to home. Yet twice now he has returned from Europe - turning down contract offers to allow him to stay. WHY? does he get homesick?, does he not enjoy the European winters? Is the training too hard? or expectations too high? Only Marco really knows.