WPM 2024/25 Squad Speculation, Confirmation and Mutual Termination

martinb

AucklandPhoenix

Maybe the ausi keeepr Mitchell Langerek, is on his radar?

Interesting thought. He’s been settled in Japan for a long while. 

It does seem as though there’s been a few Japanese players coming to the A league in recent years, particularly younger guys like Danzaki, Ibusuki and Imai and that we didn’t see before. Maybe it’s lifestyle or some such…but there must be agents and players open to the idea and it’s led to Sakai coming to Auckland and now Chief on a ticky tour. 

Hope he’s hydrating. It is hot right now! 

The rise in quality of football in Japan (over the last 20 years or so) has been astronomical. Having larger population than say Australia to draw from, they can identify young talent much better now. The main difficulty over the early period (then) was coaching quality, which led to a large influx of foreign coaches (including Australians) who did well there overall.   But regardless, it is the talent development that made Japanese players now an excellent option in terms of quality, regretfully not always affordable though.

Japanese footballers as a rule (mens & womens) tend to have excellent technical skills. Which I'm guessing is linked to lots of high quality coaching.

Michael Woud who could well be the starting keeper for Auckland FC, and who I think will be a passable ALM GK - was at best 3rd or 4th keeper at his mid table J League club.

Chief will be very keen to find a keeper that can play out from the back like Paulsen. It's so important to how the Nix were setup last season. I would not be surprised if Italiano was in Japan having a look around at their keeper stocks. Could well be some young technically good GKs there, not getting game time in J1, eager to go somewhere different for 12 months just so they play week in week out. Perhaps a loan deal. Worst places to have a bo peep.

Just checking out the squad lists for the OFC Nations Cup and I see that Raphael Lea'i is listed as a Adelaide City player. Maybe Adelaide United could make a play for him if he adapts well to life in Australia

Haven’t seen any Old to St Étienne rumors on their supporters fan sites. Appears to still be a story out of Australia. Still it would be a good move for Old if it comes off. St Étienne is a grand old French club with fantastic supporters. The club was sold just after they got promotion back in to Ligue 1. The new owners said they have money to build up the squad. Could be a nice chèque on its way to the Nix for his transfer.

The club immediately needs to slap a compulsory 20% "Sell on" fee on all of our talent. Protecting the clubs future and allowing talent to move up a step into Europe.

Did I read somewhere that Pennington had left or did I just imagine it? I'm normally well late to the party with news.

djtim3000

Did I read somewhere that Pennington had left or did I just imagine it? I'm normally well late to the party with news.

Yes he has departed the club. So there goes all the all whites eligibility count down hypotheticals. A shame though because he knew the system and could have envisioned him becoming a longterm club man.

djtim3000

Did I read somewhere that Pennington had left or did I just imagine it? I'm normally well late to the party with news.

Yeah it's just been confirmed

No news on where he is off to though.

Good news for Conchie. Also still have Al-Taay of course.

Niche Cache recently listed Fergus Gillion (born 2005) & Anaru Cassidy (born 2007) as the next two Weenix midfielders to watch. Gillion made 5 ALM match day squads last season, and most of the Weenix 2005 born cohort have already left, so an upgrade to a senior squad deal looks likely.

https://theniche-cache.com/football/2024/5/31/what-comes-next-for-the-wellington-phoenix-blokes-after-their-best-ever-a-league-season

The Australia Cup Round of 32 draw is tonight at 9pm!

MetalLegNZ

No news on where he is off to though.

Glory are teasing a signing announcement at the same time.

MetalLegNZ

No news on where he is off to though.

He is expecting/ maybe all ready had his first kid back in Italy - I would expect him to stay there and pick up a Serie C contract

Well that gives some room for Fin Conchie to try and step up to fill the void.

He’s signed for Glory. Strange move imo

nufc_nz

He’s signed for Glory. Strange move imo

Money I guess.

Wish him all the best. Not sure of the stats on how effective he was or not. But always ran himself into the ground and gave it his all. 
Still… perf? Odd choice. 

New owners, might be promising big things and spending a bit of coin.

Oi Oi Edgecumbe

nufc_nz

He’s signed for Glory. Strange move imo

Money I guess.

His dad is from Perth, so might be a chance to connect with the whanau now that he will be a dad.

RR

Oi Oi Edgecumbe

nufc_nz

He’s signed for Glory. Strange move imo

Money I guess.

His dad is from Perth, so might be a chance to connect with the whanau now that he will be a dad.

Dang, they used the sneaky Kosta strategy against us! 

Congratulations Nico! Will miss you a lot at the Nix and it seems unfair that there was no real chance to see you off and say thank you. I guess we all assumed you’d be back here. One of the heroes of our title charge and a concern not to have him as we look to back up. 

Bunch of my Italian mates are moving/have expressed a desired in moving to Perth. They say they like the heat, and that Perth is closer to Italy. I think they have direct flights to London, and then it's a short connecting flight to Rome.
Or it's 11hr to the Middle East and 6 hours to Italy.

Frankly, I can understand that. Having to do 1 hour to Auckland and 2 x 12hr flights from there OR 4 hours to Aussie, 14 hours to the Middle East and 6 hours to Rome is a real drag.. 

He will be missed. He's certainly improved over the 3 seasons he was here. I'm personally not yet convinced by Conchie, but better coaches than me have said he's good, so I hope he realises his potential. 

It’s the logic that a lot of Poms and Saffas use to live in Perth also. A direct flight ‘home’, and so WA is crawling with both. “Bloemfontein by the Sea” I’ve heard it coined.

Personally if I was from the UK seeking sun I’d go to the Algrave or Sth of Spain. Anyway plenty of interest now in next season’s Distance Derbies. Sail and Pennington

Conchie hasn’t really had much opportunity until now. Last season he mostly had bench cameos, coming on it seemed when the Nix were under the pump trying to protect a lead

Sad news that Pennington has left. Spare a thought for KungfuPanda, probably curled into a ball and rocking back and forth right now.

Too bad Pennington couldn't complete his redemption arc, he just kept getting better and better, season in season out. Hope he finds further success in Perth (aside from when they play us)

Yeah can we get a welfare check on KP please?

nufc_nz

He’s signed for Glory. Strange move imo

Where Nix players' careers go to die! He and Sail can commiserate together and support each other as they struggle. 

But in all honesty I wish him well, just not against us.

coochiee

It’s the logic that a lot of Poms and Saffas use to live in Perth also. A direct flight ‘home’, and so WA is crawling with both. “Bloemfontein by the Sea” I’ve heard it coined.

Personally if I was from the UK seeking sun I’d go to the Algrave or Sth of Spain. Anyway plenty of interest now in next season’s Distance Derbies. Sail and Pennington

Conchie hasn’t really had much opportunity until now. Last season he mostly had bench cameos, coming on it seemed when the Nix were under the pump trying to protect a lead

Brixit killed that. Visas required.

newzealandpower

Bunch of my Italian mates are moving/have expressed a desired in moving to Perth. They say they like the heat, and that Perth is closer to Italy. I think they have direct flights to London, and then it's a short connecting flight to Rome.
Or it's 11hr to the Middle East and 6 hours to Italy.

Frankly, I can understand that. Having to do 1 hour to Auckland and 2 x 12hr flights from there OR 4 hours to Aussie, 14 hours to the Middle East and 6 hours to Rome is a real drag.. 

He will be missed. He's certainly improved over the 3 seasons he was here. I'm personally not yet convinced by Conchie, but better coaches than me have said he's good, so I hope he realises his potential. 

Working for a major airline, going to Rome via an 18 hour flight to London is a lot worse then stopping off in the middle east, especially if your down the back.

Totally right.  Avoid backtracking no matter how short it looks.  Nothing beats a stopover between NZ and your final destination rather than overshooting first.

Bit worried about the midfield without Nico. And along with Rufes, Old, Kosta, Paulsen and Van Hattum, Pennington was one of our players who had clutch moments. 

Just feel it’s unlikely to find someone with his mix of skills. It’ll be a bit different. 

Al-Taay is awesome, but Pennington had at times a speed of vision and a range of passing neither Mo or Alex quite have. 

Feel like he was a core member of the title challenge and without him it’s a bit more of a rebuild, rather than a new headlight and a new paint job. 

With Pennington gone, a lot lies with Al-taay to step up and fill that spot with Rufs. Conchie will be getting a lot more minutes and challenging Al-taay for the second midfielder spot.

I know he's talented, but I haven't seen Conchie do much in a Nix shirt. He'll really need to step up.

loyalgunner

I know he's talented, but I haven't seen Conchie do much in a Nix shirt. He'll really need to step up.

Its been a similar timeline to what Old had, none of us really knew how good he'd be given the limited minutes he had before last season, even then early on he was only getting fleeting minutes - which is what Conchie has had thus far. Given the time to get decent minutes as Al-Taay's reserve he'll get 20+ most games which should be plenty to show he's good enough to be pushing for a starting spot.

Same OVH. Didn’t show much season 22/23 with small cameos, but shone last season with more mins.

Also expect these young guys to show further improvements after their Olympics experiences, and push hard for Nix starting spots

A bit surprised we haven't formally announced that Zawada is leaving even though Chiefy did mention he is. Could Paulsen's sale mean we could keep hold of Zawada?

NZPhoenixFan

A bit surprised we haven't formally announced that Zawada is leaving even though Chiefy did mention he is. Could Paulsen's sale mean we could keep hold of Zawada?

I think he's staying in NZ but moving north and the two clubs have come to some kind of gentleman's agreement to not say anything for the time being.

Why would they do that?

Ryan

Why would they do that?

It’s the kind of thing that gets done. Especially after you’ve had a cheque for millions from a parent club…

Seems reasonable enough surely? 

Who's given who millions of dollars?

If he's signed with ACFC they're delaying announcing it for dramatic effect, and the Phoenix have no reason to delay announcing his departure when both he and officials from the club have indicated he's leaving.

My guess is he's either still negotiating with the Phoenix, or because his departure was so well known announcing it has kind of slipped through the cracks.

martinb

Ryan

Why would they do that?

It’s the kind of thing that gets done. Especially after you’ve had a cheque for millions from a parent club…

Seems reasonable enough surely? 

 It hasn't been fully confirmed yet - but his Mrs did make a post on instagram which basically said "goodbye (NZ flag) I will miss you" or something to that respect. I doubt she'd say that if she was just leaving Wellington

I thought he’d signed for a polish side?