WPM 2023/24 Squad Speculation, Confirmation and Mutual Termination

What a turnaround redemption story it would be. Already is to be fair. ROF to go off if he does it.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/350148691/form-kosta-barbarouses-eyes-wellington-phoenix-stay

Barbarouses will have a shot at history on Friday. No Phoenix player has ever scored in six consecutive matches.

We may have to build a new stand just to name it after him

Mainland FC

We may have to build a new stand just to name it after him

If we win the league then Kosta and Rufer usurp Roy and Dura as the main legends. Hell, make it Kosta, Rufer, Payne and Paulsen. Four names, four stands, might as well build a rectangular stadium in their honour.

Friar Tuck

Mainland FC

We may have to build a new stand just to name it after him

If we win the league then Kosta and Rufer usurp Roy and Dura as the main legends. Hell, make it Kosta, Rufer, Payne and Paulsen. Four names, four stands, might as well build a rectangular stadium in their honour.

That's four stands, plus the Pennington Memorial VAR Booth

Mainland FC

Friar Tuck

Mainland FC

We may have to build a new stand just to name it after him

If we win the league then Kosta and Rufer usurp Roy and Dura as the main legends. Hell, make it Kosta, Rufer, Payne and Paulsen. Four names, four stands, might as well build a rectangular stadium in their honour.

That's four stands, plus the Pennington Memorial VAR Booth

Can't forget the KunguFu-Panda-Pennington commentary box

How cool would it be for Kung Fu to join Sky with Iffy and Piney and do a pre/post match analysis on Pennington.

theaucklandphoenixfan

How cool would it be for Kung Fu to join Sky with Iffy and Piney and do a pre/post match analysis on Pennington.

You wouldn't be able to get the mic back off him

Ninja

theaucklandphoenixfan

How cool would it be for Kung Fu to join Sky with Iffy and Piney and do a pre/post match analysis on Pennington.

You wouldn't be able to get the mic back off him

It'd be better than listening to Piney dribble on about other less relevant meaningless stats - hell it might even be interesting.

good news on the Kosta front - seems he wants to stay and win his title with the Nix.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/350148691/form-kosta-barbarouses-eyes-wellington-phoenix-stay

theprof

Ninja

theaucklandphoenixfan

How cool would it be for Kung Fu to join Sky with Iffy and Piney and do a pre/post match analysis on Pennington.

You wouldn't be able to get the mic back off him

It'd be better than listening to Piney dribble on about other less relevant meaningless stats - hell it might even be interesting.

 Give me Piney any day over over most of the others that commentate A League

ballane

theprof

Ninja

theaucklandphoenixfan

How cool would it be for Kung Fu to join Sky with Iffy and Piney and do a pre/post match analysis on Pennington.

You wouldn't be able to get the mic back off him

It'd be better than listening to Piney dribble on about other less relevant meaningless stats - hell it might even be interesting.

 Give me Piney any day over over most of the others that commentate A League

it's a pretty low bar to be fair.

Any bar will do

theprof

ballane

theprof

Ninja

theaucklandphoenixfan

How cool would it be for Kung Fu to join Sky with Iffy and Piney and do a pre/post match analysis on Pennington.

You wouldn't be able to get the mic back off him

It'd be better than listening to Piney dribble on about other less relevant meaningless stats - hell it might even be interesting.

 Give me Piney any day over over most of the others that commentate A League

it's a pretty low bar to be fair.

Imagine we lead 3:0 at halftime, and then had to listen to Aussie commentators up talking Victory? Equal worse listing to Archie Thompson talking again how much better they play when contracts extension are on.
Piney is fine.

Unrelated to Piney and probably something a lot of people will not agree with me on, but in terms of the Australian commentators aside from Simon Hill, I actually quite like Ben Homer, the guy who was commentating the Perth match. Think he provides lots of energy and at times gives me Mike Cockerill vibes.

Totally agree, he is also a bit better than the aussies with understanding our players and team.
You know who I hate every time I turn a nix away game on and beg he’s not on.. that English sounding fellow (defenitely NOT Simon hill lol), he is so annoying now but he commentates probably the most games in the league now

Oi Oi Edgecumbe

Any bar will do

The most Fever forum post ever.

theaucklandphoenixfan

Totally agree, he is also a bit better than the aussies with understanding our players and team.
You know who I hate every time I turn a nix away game on and beg he’s not on.. that English sounding fellow (defenitely NOT Simon hill lol), he is so annoying now but he commentates probably the most games in the league now

Robbie Thompson - he's gotten better, but still pretty dull.

Ben Homer is very underrated, and definitely does his homework on us - which is nice.

robbie thompson tries to come across as impartial but hes just a douche.
It puts me off watching other games when hes on

WhoStoleMySock

theaucklandphoenixfan

Totally agree, he is also a bit better than the aussies with understanding our players and team.
You know who I hate every time I turn a nix away game on and beg he’s not on.. that English sounding fellow (defenitely NOT Simon hill lol), he is so annoying now but he commentates probably the most games in the league now

Robbie Thompson - he's gotten better, but still pretty dull.

Ben Homer is very underrated, and definitely does his homework on us - which is nice.

Interesting interview with Chief today.

He was asked about strengthening in the window, he said it would just be for depth and he'll make a decision after this game.

He was asked about if they had any offers for Zawada, he said no.

He was asked if they'll re-sign Kosta, he said they'd try to and Kosta is happy in the team and wants to stay.

He was asked if they'll re-sign Zawada, he said "Zawada would like to go to a league that tests him."  and made it sound like he'd return to Europe.

He was asked if they'll re-sign Kraev, he said Kraev is settled and happy in the team but his personal opinion is Kraev is good enough to return to a top league in Europe. They'll have conversations with him shortly.

Interesting, if Zawada was scoring buckets loads of goals, I’d understand that point. Schedule is definitely not as gruelling and yeah the quality isn’t as good as some leagues, but I’m not sure where would be testing and enjoyable (at hi level)? I guess he’s had murmurs of teams interested so he must be fairly confident of where he’ll end up.

Would love to see Kraev sign on for another couple of years. Likewise Kosta.

WanderingSheep

Interesting, if Zawada was scoring buckets loads of goals, I’d understand that point. Schedule is definitely not as gruelling and yeah the quality isn’t as good as some leagues, but I’m not sure where would be testing and enjoyable (at hi level)? I guess he’s had murmurs of teams interested so he must be fairly confident of where he’ll end up.

Would love to see Kraev sign on for another couple of years. Likewise Kosta.

Word-of-mouth a few months ago was that there was interest from several overseas clubs, but no formal offer.

WanderingSheep

Interesting, if Zawada was scoring buckets loads of goals, I’d understand that point. Schedule is definitely not as gruelling and yeah the quality isn’t as good as some leagues, but I’m not sure where would be testing and enjoyable (at hi level)? I guess he’s had murmurs of teams interested so he must be fairly confident of where he’ll end up.

Would love to see Kraev sign on for another couple of years. Likewise Kosta.

 On the basis of last year I think Zawada wants to move to a bigger (more teams/more games) so he can score more than 15. Seems to be his number of success. I'd guess he'll be the one that leaves, kosta wants to stay providing everything stacks up, and Kraev seems pretty settled and working well in the teams setup.

Ninja

WanderingSheep

Interesting, if Zawada was scoring buckets loads of goals, I’d understand that point. Schedule is definitely not as gruelling and yeah the quality isn’t as good as some leagues, but I’m not sure where would be testing and enjoyable (at hi level)? I guess he’s had murmurs of teams interested so he must be fairly confident of where he’ll end up.

Would love to see Kraev sign on for another couple of years. Likewise Kosta.

Word-of-mouth a few months ago was that there was interest from several overseas clubs, but no formal offer.

Wonder if that interest will still be there come the end of the season, if he doesn't get fit & start scoring it won't be.

Last season was his best ever season, goals & fitness wise. The fitness has already regressed back to the mean.

RR

Ninja

WanderingSheep

Interesting, if Zawada was scoring buckets loads of goals, I’d understand that point. Schedule is definitely not as gruelling and yeah the quality isn’t as good as some leagues, but I’m not sure where would be testing and enjoyable (at hi level)? I guess he’s had murmurs of teams interested so he must be fairly confident of where he’ll end up.

Would love to see Kraev sign on for another couple of years. Likewise Kosta.

Word-of-mouth a few months ago was that there was interest from several overseas clubs, but no formal offer.

Wonder if that interest will still be there come the end of the season, if he doesn't get fit & start scoring it won't be.

Last season was his best ever season, goals & fitness wise. The fitness has already regressed back to the mean.

 
That’s pretty much the angle I was getting at. He’s not firing on all cylinders and scoring loads of goals. They’ll see last season and maybe take a punt on him, but as you say, he needs to get fit. Can see why he’d like to be closer to home mind, having a kid etc. I’ll just be interested in what this challenging league turns out to be.

I won't be gutted to see Zawada jet off to a European team at the end of the season - he's good enough, and it's clearly home.

I *will* be gutted if he's back in the A-League with another team in the next 2-3 years, though.

Anyone with a brain knew Zawada was gone at the end of this season a long time ago. I suspect Kosta will stay, I doubt Auckland will want to break the bank to blow the Nix's offer out of the water to sign someone who turns 34 next month. Ball is fading fast. Chiefy's comments on Kraev were interesting, didn't sound super invested in keeping him.

This makes me suspect that Chiefy has some ideas in mind for replacement forwards. 

Seems counter-intuitive, but I think it is in the club's interest to support Zawada and Kraev getting good deals back in Europe.
They went all in on the tactic of signing mid twenties players who had a good pedigree but had fallen off a little bit, and encouraged these players to come out to NZ to revive their careers. 
If they can point to both Kraev and Zawada coming here, succeeding and heading back to decent leagues in Europe, that will be an incredibly strong bargaining chip to use for future imports over the next 2-3 import cycles.

What would be the better clubs that some of our ex-players have gone to, in the past?
I do not mean "eventually", I mean directly.

Sorry wrong thread

Mainland FC

What would be the better clubs that some of our ex-players have gone to, in the past?
I do not mean "eventually", I mean directly.

 1. Bayern Munich !, daylight second although Al-Nassr (Jon Mckain) has improved its ranking since then

Libby to belgium would be up there as far as quality of the actual league

Cammy Devlin. Transferred to Scotland after spending 10 minutes at the Jets, but it was his Nix form that caught the eye for sure.

Tyler Boyd too, arguably 

https://twitter.com/KevinJimenezCR/status/1751433357135626394?t=EekdFL8IaixWTAzkEH28yQ&s=19

Youstin Salas to Wellington Phoenix. I wonder where I've seen that before 🤔

Additional speculation from his Facebook

Screenshot_20240129-020930.png 150.55 KB

alexobc

https://twitter.com/KevinJimenezCR/status/1751433357135626394?t=EekdFL8IaixWTAzkEH28yQ&s=19

Youstin Salas to Wellington Phoenix. I wonder where I've seen that before 🤔

Ahh this random Costa Rican chestnut popping up once more.

I'll believe it when he follows us on Instagram. 🤣

alexobc

https://twitter.com/KevinJimenezCR/status/1751433357135626394?t=EekdFL8IaixWTAzkEH28yQ&s=19

Youstin Salas to Wellington Phoenix. I wonder where I've seen that before 🤔

Have we traveled back thru time 7 months? Dang, I didn't write down the lotto numbers.

Hard to know what to make of the rumour, though I suppose Plymouth Argyle fans would have heard rumblings about Waine over a protracted period before his arrival...

Just to show how small of a world football can be, though, here's CCM's Ureña on Salas' potential and being bitten by him during a match.

Payne, Rufer, Al-Taay, Pennington, Salas.

Wellington Phoenix and defensive midfielders that can also play RB in a pinch, name a more iconic duo

It's so hard to overcome the built-in scepticism, but this is starting to feel believable with a seemingly mainstream broadcaster referring to confirmation having been made by Salas' agent.

"A pretty quick negotiation with thanks to Saprissa for their openness and the support they have given the player . . . We'll see about the purchase option at the end [of the loan]. I do want to give a very special mention to Saprissa for their openness. It is a dream that [Salas] has been wanting to fulfill and they supported him 200%."
- Luis García [Salas' supposed agent]

https://www.teletica.com/deportivo-saprissa/youstin-salas-cumplira-su-sueno-de-ser-legionario_351619

It makes you wonder if this would be one for the future if real, conceivably giving Salas time to settle in and contribute where necessary if injuries or All Whites call-ups affect player availability. There's also the unknown of which of our various DMs will elect to remain with us next year.

As per Danny Milner and Ya'acov Young on Twitter, which everybody might have seen by now anyway, ESPN Costa Rica are in on the story and so this one looks like the real deal.

This news was broken by journalist Kevin Jiménez and ESPN have confirmed that everything has taken place. The only thing left is the official announcement.

https://www.espn.co.cr/futbol/costa-rica/nota/_/id/13156952/youstin-salas-deja-saprissa-aventurarse-futbol-oceania