Youstin Salas

anaveragestem

Elemenop

How did he go? I couldn't watch the end of the game :( 

He looked quality straight away. Potentially stopped Davila scoring on the final play too, tracked him all the way from midfield. Looked good on offense too.

Expect him to get 60 mins next game if he pulls up alright 👍 

I immediately thought Kraev would be a decent A league import as soon as I first saw him play.  I thought Salas looked even more impactful.  

Looks to have pace and decent strength, not shy to put himself about, positioned very well, created a fast transition opportunity with a great rangy outlet pass the first opportunity he had to do so.  

Early days, but I thought he looked the bizz.  And maybe also the buzz - he struck me as exciting to watch, albeit a more positionally defensive player.  Decision making and pace of play looked quick.

He did not get fouled much by the Bulls, either because of his role or because of the time, but I am sure some teams will eventually try to provoke him into a retaliation. 

Mainland FC

To be honest, Evans was pretty inconsistent throughout the game, as was the VAR. Late in the game Evans was handing out yellow cards like lollies, especially in the time added on.

Shaun Evans inconsistent? Now there's a shock!

Once Salas is fully up to speed which of the midfielders do you leave out? Can't be Rufer obviously. Pennington has built into an excellent, energetic mid and Al-Taay is very reliable and strong as an ox. I don't think we've ever had it this good.

Look forward to that problem when all our midfielders are fit and good to play. Certainly not the case right now.

Ranix

Look forward to that problem when all our midfielders are fit and good to play. Certainly not the case right now.

I would be surprised if Salas does not start against Perth, unless something unexpected comes up. What position, that can be sorted out before the game depending on who is fit.  That is also why we recruited him, for injuries and for extra depth.
At this stage Rufer may not be fit, Pennington might be.   Also, if Payne is not fit, Salas plays RB, giving Mo Al-Taay a spot in midfield with whoever else is fit.
Perth are on the rise, and it never is an easy game over there.

Mainland FC

To be honest, Evans was pretty inconsistent throughout the game, as was the VAR. Late in the game Evans was handing out yellow cards like lollies, especially in the time added on.

That is Evans though. He’s a bit like a less headmastery Faghani with a bit of mystery thrown in. More cards later on and the occasional Pennington simulation call. 

"He’s a bit like a less headmastery Faghani with a bit of mystery thrown in."

....LOL...... Clive James, is that you???

It's all in Spanish, unfortunately, but the below is a nearly 35min interview with Salas on a variety of topics including his time at the 'Nix and plans for the future.

Interestingly, he made it very clear that his goal is to stay and that he's working towards that end – conversations with Saprissa currently taking place in the background. He referred to a desire to remain "here" for at least one more year but preferably five, though he did later clarify that this could mean overseas in general. That said, he spoke in extremely glowing terms of life in Wellington, the playing group, and the Chief – making particular reference to Chief's tactical intelligence and personable nature.

El Wellington Phoenix no hará efectiva la opción de compra por Youstin Salas, deberá volver a Saprissa.

El jugador tendrá medalla de campeón, jugó un partido este torneo antes de irse. pic.twitter.com/Udy8blPFaI

— Kevin Jiménez (@KevinJimenezCR) May 27, 2024

Appears we have declined the option to buy Salas.

He added good depth to the squad but as a visa player, you need more than that.

RR

El Wellington Phoenix no hará efectiva la opción de compra por Youstin Salas, deberá volver a Saprissa.

El jugador tendrá medalla de campeón, jugó un partido este torneo antes de irse. pic.twitter.com/Udy8blPFaI

— Kevin Jiménez (@KevinJimenezCR) May 27, 2024

Appears we have declined the option to buy Salas.

He added good depth to the squad but as a visa player, you need more than that.

That's a shame. Don't think he really had enough time to show his skills.
He was really only in the squad for 6 weeks, not really enough time to settle in and push for starting spots. Given a full preseason andtime to learn the language I reckon he could easily push Payne for the starting RB spot as well as push Pennington for the CM role.

theprof

RR

El Wellington Phoenix no hará efectiva la opción de compra por Youstin Salas, deberá volver a Saprissa.

El jugador tendrá medalla de campeón, jugó un partido este torneo antes de irse. pic.twitter.com/Udy8blPFaI

— Kevin Jiménez (@KevinJimenezCR) May 27, 2024

Appears we have declined the option to buy Salas.

He added good depth to the squad but as a visa player, you need more than that.

That's a shame. Don't think he really had enough time to show his skills.
He was really only in the squad for 6 weeks, not really enough time to settle in and push for starting spots. Given a full preseason andtime to learn the language I reckon he could easily push Payne for the starting RB spot as well as push Pennington for the CM role.

Agreed, I though he did well enough. One full season would probably give him an opportunity to settle in more

InsulinMachine

theprof

RR

El Wellington Phoenix no hará efectiva la opción de compra por Youstin Salas, deberá volver a Saprissa.

El jugador tendrá medalla de campeón, jugó un partido este torneo antes de irse. pic.twitter.com/Udy8blPFaI

— Kevin Jiménez (@KevinJimenezCR) May 27, 2024

Appears we have declined the option to buy Salas.

He added good depth to the squad but as a visa player, you need more than that.

That's a shame. Don't think he really had enough time to show his skills.
He was really only in the squad for 6 weeks, not really enough time to settle in and push for starting spots. Given a full preseason andtime to learn the language I reckon he could easily push Payne for the starting RB spot as well as push Pennington for the CM role.

Agreed, I though he did well enough. One full season would probably give him an opportunity to settle in more

For me he was great and as others have said he probably needed a bit more time. In parts he looked like he was just trying a bit hard - trying to solidify a move for him and the Fam over to NZ/Aus. 
He may not have played quite well enough to keep that spot in the squad but you could see he was a good bloke and fitted our 'no dicks' policy really well. He'll be missed I reckon but that is how business works in football.

Yes I agree, a bit of a shame as I thought he was good, and I love to see an import player so highly motivated and giving his absolute all.

I guess the decision probably comes down to a financial one: the cost/benefit ratio wasn't quite positive enough. There is going to be some belt tightening happening with the Nix for the next year or two until the APL re-emerges on a better financial footing. 

I could have gone either way on him. My take out from this, though, is Chiefy would only decline the option to buy if he had a better contender in mind so that's exciting.

I imagine a large part of it would’ve been that we needed to buy him. If he were off contract with Saprissa and we could get him in for free then maybe he’d be returning.

But the only player we’ve ever paid a transfer fee for was Piscopo and that ended up being $140k down the drain.

I know the tweet says "he will have to return to Saprissa", but is there still a chance we might be able to extend his loan deal? Or is that not how things work?

Maybe it’s part of negotiations? 
But seems likely we simply can’t afford him…
Chief said we were going to look to change system, but he didn’t quite hold down one position sufficiently differently to other players. 

He looked like a player who could do a lot of things others couldn’t, but needed us to change system to find him the right spot. And he played all in heart on sleeve most of the time. A goal might have helped! He was looking for a long range effort or that diving header. 

I think he was a bit of enigma that Chief needed time like a pre-season to work out. But he was brought in to give us an end of season energy boost and he took us oh so close. 

Was it the winter and rain he struggled with a little too? There was one game that everyone was flat that he copped a lot of criticism for. 

Perhaps other clubs will show an interest if we don’t. It’s a bad time money wise to be looking to be an import to the Australian game.

Loved his attitude, but to be honest there were several games where his misplaced passes put us under the pump. As a defender or defensive midfielder that is too risky.

Oi Oi Edgecumbe

Loved his attitude, but to be honest there were several games where his misplaced passes put us under the pump. As a defender or defensive midfielder that is too risky.

to be fair to Salas he wasnt the only one who misplaced passes in that position, Pennington, Al-taay, OLd and Rufer have all been guilty of the odd errant pass that has put the defense under pressure. Admittedly he is the only import but he has had the least time to come to grips with the league as well.