So disappointing hes gone to another A-League club shows that he was keen to stay in this league rather than go back to Europe we should've just paid what he wanted tbh. He's a known quality A-League player so now we gotta dip into the volatile import market and hope we find another gem.
we don't have the revenue that other clubs have, and with the substantial drop in tv deal we have to make hard decisions.
We've just sold over 3 million in players, freed up salary costs from Zawada, Salas, Pennington, Duncan and had our best season ticket sales wise in years even with the budget cut tv deal we should still be able to offer Kraev a pay increase from his last deal.
So disappointing hes gone to another A-League club shows that he was keen to stay in this league rather than go back to Europe we should've just paid what he wanted tbh. He's a known quality A-League player so now we gotta dip into the volatile import market and hope we find another gem.
we don't have the revenue that other clubs have, and with the substantial drop in tv deal we have to make hard decisions.
We've just sold over 3 million in players, freed up salary costs from Zawada, Salas, Pennington, Duncan and had our best season ticket sales wise in years even with the budget cut tv deal we should still be able to offer Kraev a pay increase from his last deal.
yeah, it is interesting that we supposedly pulled the deal after confirming the Rojas signing - surely we didn't blow our wad on Rojas alone!!!
Chief has said we're changing strategy, maybe Kraev doesn't fit or we need to spend the money elsewhere.
Also could be he was using our offer to negotiate a better deal with WSW. We have a history of pulling offers if we don't think they're going our way, or if we think they're dragging on, and just moving on.
The wording is "after" they signed Rojas. There was an offer on the table when Rojas was signed, but at some point afterwards, the Nix ran out of patience and said good luck elsewhere, as they did to Callan Elliot. I'm not particularly bothered, Kraev was solid but peaked in his first season with us. We have a good chance of finding somebody equally as good or better.
Rollo's article indicates that Phoenix withdrew their contract offer for Kraev after they signed Rojas.
Outrageous if true. Rojas is a punt and a half, while Kraev is a known, quality player.
Sounds like we've paid way over the odds for Rojas ... pressure on!
Rojas is a known, quality player. Weird to insinuate he's some one unknown.
Ryan
Silent
NZPhoenixFan
Rollo's article indicates that Phoenix withdrew their contract offer for Kraev after they signed Rojas.
Outrageous if true. Rojas is a punt and a half, while Kraev is a known, quality player.
Sounds like we've paid way over the odds for Rojas ... pressure on!
Rojas is a known, quality player. Weird to insinuate he's some one unknown.
He's has some unknowns fer sure, he's only been back in the aleague for a few months, before that unless we had scouts on him his performances will be unclear. Anything he has done before leaving Melbourne the first time is meaningless as it was so long ago!
Rollo's article indicates that Phoenix withdrew their contract offer for Kraev after they signed Rojas.
Outrageous if true. Rojas is a punt and a half, while Kraev is a known, quality player.
Sounds like we've paid way over the odds for Rojas ... pressure on!
Rojas is a known, quality player. Weird to insinuate he's some one unknown.
Ryan
Silent
NZPhoenixFan
Rollo's article indicates that Phoenix withdrew their contract offer for Kraev after they signed Rojas.
Outrageous if true. Rojas is a punt and a half, while Kraev is a known, quality player.
Sounds like we've paid way over the odds for Rojas ... pressure on!
Rojas is a known, quality player. Weird to insinuate he's some one unknown.
He's has some unknowns fer sure, he's only been back in the aleague for a few months, before that unless we had scouts on him his performances will be unclear. Anything he has done before leaving Melbourne the first time is meaningless as it was so long ago!
Thanks this is what I mean.
At his best, Rojas is good enough to more than compensate for the loss of Kraev.
But he's barely kicked a ball for ... three seasons so I feel it's a punt. It could come off, but a bird in the hand and all that...
the pun was intentional, but given the forecasted change in style and the suggestion of adding sandovael to our current short in stature forwards (Kosta and Marco) it felt relevant.
I'm so pleased I got everyone (Except Domey yet) to sign my jersey during the week before the Semi. The Nearly team chock full of good players, 8 gone.
Who’s been our longest serving import that’s not English since Daniel?
Roly Bonevacia - 80 games Alex Rodriguez - 72 games Albert Riera - 68 games Bozhidar Kraev - 59 games Ulises Dávila - 50 games Steyn Huysegems - 48 games Oskar Zawada - 42 games Dani Sanchez - 42 games Kenny Cunningham - 40 games Marco Rossi - 39 games Gary Hooper - 35 games
That’s everyone since Daniel who played more than one season.
Think Kraev and even Zawada would have stayed if our finances were in better shape. Both players had the desire to stay. Salas wanted to stay as did Sasse and Sandoval.
I think there is some correlation vs causation going on.
As a comparison (stats from Wiki), UK players games for Nix -
David Ball 123 games Paul Ifill 106 games (Barbados but he's a Brit) Chris Greenacre 84 games Scott Wootton 69 games Steven Taylor 61 games
Krishna played 122 matches and Daniel played 106
So of most games played visa players, 3 of the top 5 are English?? Daniel & Krishna the other 2. In the new season Wootton will overtake Greenacre into the top 5.
Sad to see Kraev go. Who knows what happened during contract negotiations, could be that he wanted more than what the Nix think he is worth. He had his moments and was class in parts but never set the place on fire like Kosta and Zawada... Sadder to see Zawada & Ben Old go and would rather have Kosta over Kraev.
With that being said, it leaves an ever growing hole up front which we now need a number of players to fill. I'd be shocked if there isn't at least 1 signings of established attacking player which we have to fork out for now. Makes that talk about the Brazilian dude yesterday seem way more credible.
On a positive note, I think this gives the Chief an even greater chance to form a squad how he wants. We saw how he formed a system around the players he was forced to use last season - now let's see what he can do when he has full autonomy to pick a set of players and a system he wants.
I might be in the minority, but I'm not that gutted. I absolutely would prefer that we kept him, he got through a tonne of work defensively up top and was great for our system. Seemed like a really cool bloke too, I bet he was great to have in the sheds.
But equally as a forward/attacking midfield hybrid player, did he really do enough if we're being objective? In 2024 (18 matches, averaging 81 minutes per match) he had 2 goals and 1 assist. If he wanted too much money, I don't blame the club for pulling out. Both seasons he would start well and then kind of flame out by Christmas.
I might be in the minority, but I'm not that gutted. I absolutely would prefer that we kept him, he got through a tonne of work defensively up top and was great for our system. Seemed like a really cool bloke too, I bet he was great to have in the sheds.
But equally as a forward/attacking midfield hybrid player, did he really do enough if we're being objective? In 2024 (18 matches, averaging 81 minutes per match) he had 2 goals and 1 assist. If he wanted too much money, I don't blame the club for pulling out. Both seasons he would start well and then kind of flame out by Christmas.
He has been one of our most consistent imports ever. He's top quality and chipped in with goals others wouldn't have scored.
He's a huge loss...
I'm trying to think have we had a better import midfielder (apart from Davilla).
Perhaps his contribution was confused because he was good enough to play anywhere and did. Plus his goal contributions dropped off a little, but I think he was playing deeper and getting marked heavily.
He was the only player good enough to play wherever Chief wanted him to and a high level. I think he’ll be difficult to replace. We won’t be able to play through midfields as crisply without him involved and we’ll lose the ball more.
And he could have gone to Auckland and didn’t.
Tbh no foul for Kraev. He’s at the top of his game with a baby on the way. As a footballer this is his prime earning time.
I might be in the minority, but I'm not that gutted. I absolutely would prefer that we kept him, he got through a tonne of work defensively up top and was great for our system. Seemed like a really cool bloke too, I bet he was great to have in the sheds.
But equally as a forward/attacking midfield hybrid player, did he really do enough if we're being objective? In 2024 (18 matches, averaging 81 minutes per match) he had 2 goals and 1 assist. If he wanted too much money, I don't blame the club for pulling out. Both seasons he would start well and then kind of flame out by Christmas.
He has been one of our most consistent imports ever. He's top quality and chipped in with goals others wouldn't have scored.
He's a huge loss...
I'm trying to think have we had a better import midfielder (apart from Davilla).
I think Roly was better, other players like Ifill and Riera probably not comparable.
I might be in the minority, but I'm not that gutted. I absolutely would prefer that we kept him, he got through a tonne of work defensively up top and was great for our system. Seemed like a really cool bloke too, I bet he was great to have in the sheds.
But equally as a forward/attacking midfield hybrid player, did he really do enough if we're being objective? In 2024 (18 matches, averaging 81 minutes per match) he had 2 goals and 1 assist. If he wanted too much money, I don't blame the club for pulling out. Both seasons he would start well and then kind of flame out by Christmas.
He has been one of our most consistent imports ever. He's top quality and chipped in with goals others wouldn't have scored.
He's a huge loss...
I'm trying to think have we had a better import midfielder (apart from Davilla).
I think Roly was better, other players like Ifill and Riera probably not comparable.
Roly did some unbelievable things, but I feel like he wasn’t always comfortable with instructions. I don’t really understand about what it means to be tactically aware as a footballer, but maybe Kraev is it.
