Flying Kiwis – The Transfer Window #4
There’s never been a better transfer window for kiwi footballers than this one. There’s new stuff going on every few days, with a ridiculous number of NZ men and women not only finding new professional clubs around the world but also progressing their careers in the process. Shout out to kiwi football.
Bill Tuiloma (Portland Timbers)
It’s now official – Bill Tuiloma is a Portland Timber. It won’t be his first stint in America after a short term with the LA Galaxy youth team way back when but he joins the growing kiwi influx into the MLS. Still only a handful of players but it’s several big ones choosing to hit up the USA all in the last month. Stefan Marinovic and Michael Boxall being the others. Myer Bevan not too much longer ago. It’s a curious trend.
You can kinda tell that the Timbers aren’t exactly looking at Tuiloma as an essential addition to the squad. Their press release included no quotes, no context… just a couple paragraphs about his career to date. Oh, he played for Waitakere. Oh, he was the first New Zealander to play Ligue 1 in France. Oh, he spent the majority of his time with the OM reserves and has 20 caps for the All Whites. Nothing that’s news there.
When quizzed about the transfer at his next press conference, coach Caleb Porter had this to say:
CP: “Yeah to be honest with you I’m not all that familiar with him. I’ve watched him a few games with New Zealand. He didn’t play a ton with Marseille, he was with the second team there mostly. But Gavin presented the option of getting a young player, a guy that can give us depth, a centre back and holding mid for the next six months at a minimum with an option and so we felt the position we’re in anybody would help us and, you know, good news is he’s a young player, a young international and he’s been at a big club. We’ve seen him now for a week and we think he’ll be a depth piece. Mostly at holding mid, that’s where he’s played the majority of his games, but he’s played a little bit at centre half as well.”
Porter went on to admit that Tui wouldn’t have his visa in time to feature in their next game and that, right now, when everybody is fully fit he’d be a stretch to make the match-day 18. A little rough there but of course he’s coming in fresh. Gotta make an impression and as Porter also said you can never have too much depth because you never know when you’re gonna need it. Sounds like Tui should see some time with the firsts, see some time with the seconds. Jake Gleeson made his name with the Timbers 2 team once upon a time.
Meanwhile here’s what the OM website had to say:
Olympique de Marseille and Portland Timbers have reached an agreement for the transfer of Bill Tuiloma. The whole of Olympique de Marseille thanks him for what he has done during the many years spent at the club and wishes him good luck in his new colours.
Aaand that’s it.
Tuiloma leaves Marseille having played two games and 17 minutes in the French top division. Add in a bunch of games for OM2 and a brief loan spell at RC Strasbourg also. Enough of that though, time for the next chapter.
Marco Rojas (sc Heerenveen)
This one happened swiftly. Despite his stuttering time in Europe previously, it was a little disappointing to see Marco return to the A-League last year. But realistically he needed to play some football, he needed to dominate games again and his agent probably never stopped hustling for moves. Chances are this was always the aim – one great season to get things back on track and then return to Europe. Not saying that aim was always likely to happen but yeah. It did.
Word came through last week that he was travelling to Europe for a probable transfer. Melbourne Victory quickly confirmed this, admitting that they wouldn’t stand in his way.
Marco Rojas: “I can’t thank everyone at Melbourne Victory enough. They showed great faith in me after a difficult few years in Europe and really helped me to get my career back on track. I would absolutely have no hesitation returning to Melbourne Victory in the future. The club is very important to me and has been nothing but professional during both my spells in Melbourne. But right now I’m focused on proving myself at the top level and I’m excited to be heading back to Europe.”
It didn’t take long before sc Heerenveen were named as the club in question and soon enough they were tweeting a completed transfer. Medical passed, contract signed.
This is fantastic stuff. Rojas’ new team are an established top flight club in the Netherlands – which means there’ll be some much anticipated PEC Zwolle/Ryan Thomas vs sc Heerenveen/Marco Rojas derbies coming up this season. Heerenveen aren’t a pesky upstart like Zwolle, however. They’ve been in the Eredivisie for the last 24 seasons now, winning the title in 1999-00 and tend to find themselves playing in Europe every few seasons. They finished ninth last time and thanks to FC Twente’s temporary ban from continental stuff that was enough to get them into the Europa League playoff playoffs. What does that mean? They went into a semi-final draw to playoff for the final Europa League spot from Holland. They lost 5-3 on aggregate to Utrecht though. (BTW, PEC Zwolle were 14th out of 18 teams in 16-17).
Hey and if you didn’t happen to notice from those pics, Marco’s been given the number seven. Gotta take it that they see him as an important first team member if he’s been given #7. Dunno if he’s the kind of player that cares about that but he wore 7 with Melbourne Victory too (and 11 with NZ at the Confeds – Kosta Barbarouses pulled senior rank on him there for 7, coincidentally Kosta’s replacing him at the Victory now too).
Say, look who immediately found himself in the front row of the promo material…
Standing next to him there is Nemanja Mihajlović, a Serbian winger/forward who signed at the same time following three big seasons with Partizan in his home nation (winning the Serbian SuperLiga and the domestic cup last season). He’s not a full international like Marco but he’s been included in squads before. Japanese midfielder Yuki Kobayashi is another one to watch, while goalkeeper Warner Hahn spent a season on loan with Ryan Thomas and PEC Zwolle a couple seasons ago and has just signed after his Feyenoord contract ran down. Captain Stijn Schaars has played 20 times for Holland. Plus in the middle of an 18 month loan deal is young Martin Odegaard – Real Madrid’s Norwegian wonder kid.
Lil Marco has been here before. He played a couple seasons in Europe after signing with Stuttgart in the Bundesliga but he broke his foot in his first campaign and could never get close to that first team. An unhappy loan out at Greuther Furth went nowhere before he finally started making a point at FC Thun in Switzerland, also out on loan. Then back to Melbourne Victory.
Rojas is a better player now than he was when he signed for Stuttgart and the year back at the Victory was a massive success as he scored 12 goals and assisted another 11. Those are some insane numbers. If he hadn’t missed the decisive spottie in the Grand Final shootout then it might’ve been a perfect season. But he looked fitter than he’s ever looked before and with the lessons learned from his earlier setbacks he’s coming into the peak of his career with a good chance of doing some badass things in the near future.
Heerenveen Sporting Director Gerry Hamstra: “With Marco we are bringing in a player who already has experience in Europe. He is a fast-paced wing attacker with specific qualities and he can play in multiple positions. We're glad to have him in our attack.”
The Eredivisie seasons kicks off in two weeks. Can’t wait.
C.J. Bott (USV Jena)
There you go, another Football Fern making the leap into the professional ranks. One more player making a living doing what they do. It’s never not a beautiful sight to see.
What’s curious here is that USV Jena are actually the club that Amber Hearn played for right up until about a month or two ago when they released her and she signed with FC Koln instead. Clearly they got a little antsy without a kiwi in the ranks so CJ, with a career mostly spent playing in the NZ amateur stuff, has gotten herself a dotted line to sign on. What’s most cool here is that Bott isn’t a locked on every match Footy Fern, she’s more of a squad player (or has been ‘til now anyway). Still only a handful of caps and all. When players outside the established stars are getting proper deals out there then you know that kiwi football is on the rise.
Rory Fallon (Torquay United)
Good old Rory Fallon, keeping the flames a-burning with a new deal. Rory had been on trial with fifth-tier Torquay and now he’s signed on to stick around. Not on a full contract but that seems to be a matter of keeping the options open while he gets up to full fitness.
Fallon hasn’t played properly for over a year since leaving his player/assistant manager gig with Truro City. He came on for the All Whites as a sub in a friendly against USA last October and it sounds a lot like having one last go at getting back into the national team is a big part of this. Mate, it sure ain’t about the money. The lad’s got his ice cream business taking care of all that.
Manager Kevin Nicholson: “We have been looking for a target man for a long time now and Rory has come in and showed us enough to suggest that he could be a valuable asset to our squad. His character is outstanding, he has kept himself in great shape having not kicked a ball in anger for about 8 months until the Plymouth Argyle game.
He is a player who has had a tough couple of years with injury and then a desperation to do well as player-assistant manager which didn’t work out at Truro, but he is also a man who has played in the championship and played international football so we know he has the ability and the physical presence that we need.
He has a non-contract deal which gives us a chance to assess further, get him fit and also benefit from him being available to play, he then has the opportunity to show us how good he can be and how much he can help us be successful. I’m looking forward to seeing how he progresses and hope our fans make him feel welcome as he fights to get in our team and in the New Zealand national set up.”
Erin Nayler (FC Girondins de Bordeaux)
A little confirmation there is all. Check back in FK- TTW #2 for the full story on Erin (links at the bottom of the page).
Steven Old (Morecambe)
How about this one? Former Phoenix defender Old has popped up at The Shrimps on a one-year deal, so long as the international clearances got through and all that. Old had been playing for GAIS in Sweden where the 31 year old had for a while been teammates with fellow kiwis Craig Henderson and Dan Keat. Hendo left for America and Indy Eleven back in February while Old was given a release from his contract after two seasons and 33 league games about a month ago. He’d prior to that spent two seasons with Ljungskile, also in the Swedish second tier.
Steven Old, June 21: “Thank you GAIS for understanding my personal circumstances surrounding my decision to terminate my contract. It wasn’t an easy decision to make. Even though football is a massive part of my life, family trumps everything. To put it into some context, I have lived away from my wife since January, 2013, and now with my baby boy coming, the time is right to return home. I want to thank the club, fans, and my team mates for the past 18 months and I will continue to support GAIS for the rest of my life. Heja GAIS.”
So yeah, makes a hundred percent sense that he’d wanna be with his family with the kiddie on the way. Home for Old is London after he played for Sutton United and Basingstoke Town back in the day and he’s conveniently now found himself a deal with Morecambe, currently plugging away in League Two.
Morecambe manager Jim Bentley: “Steven is a very experienced player, who has had some really high points throughout his career. He's been a captain at previous clubs and has good leadership qualities, which we need within our squad. I've done a lot of research on him and he comes very highly recommended and I've also watched hours of games and clips from his time abroad and have been very impressed with what I've seen. He's a strong, physical player and technically and tactically very good. We're looking forward to getting him on-board and working with him, hopefully he will become a big player for Morecambe Football Club.”
Michael den Heijer (NEC Nijmegen)
Not strictly a new transfer here but certainly one to take a notice of. Back in August 2016, Mike went and signed with Nijmegen in Holland. He’d already experienced a bit of worldliness in his career before, spending a year in Japan with Kashiwa Reysol, before coming back to NZ where he took up with Auckland City but this was his chance to really launch a professional career.
MDH got some time in friendlies that first season but once things kicked off for real he was down in the reserves. Even that was kinda incredible since all he did to get that contract was cycle on up to training to have a watch while he was staying with his cousin in town on his travels and he ended up trialling with the ressies. Here he is telling the story himself in case you don’t believe it:
Nijmegen had a crap season last time. While Ryan Thomas’ PEC Zwolle were able to fight off the relegation playoffs, Nijmegen did not. They got past FC Emmen in their first playoff but with a place in the top division on the line they were thoroughly beaten by NAC Breda – losing 5-1 on aggregate. Hence they’ll be plugging away in the Eerste Division this time around.
But that could mean a great opportunity for the kiwi in their squad. He played nine times for the reserves in 2016-17, scoring two goals and even captaining once. They were undefeated with MDH in the starting lineup. Earlier in July den Heijer played a friendly for Carl Zeiss Jena in Germany, presumably as something of a trial, but he didn’t get a contract there and has since found himself back at Nijmegen. Lately he’s been called up to their preseason touring squad and don’t look now but he’s been getting some serious minutes too.
The first game of preseason was just a good look at a bunch of reserve/trial players. Against SV DFS in their second preseason match, however, MDH started alongside an XI that more closely resembled their top team and still got 64 minutes in a 3-0 win, drawing a good save from a shot early in the second half. He was the only starter out of the youth/reserve team here.
He was a 75th minute substitute in a 2-2 draw against FC Utrecht, replacing 19 year old midfielder Ragnar Oratmangun who had also been at the club trying to force a contract. Following that he started and played 60 minutes as the team won 2-1 vs Lierse (in which our lad also picked up a yellow card).All pretty interesting stuff to see him really fighting for that spot, especially considering where he’s come from. The drop in divisions should clear some more room for him. Just a matter of proving his worth now and as long as the opportunities keep coming, there’s reason to be optimistic. NEC begin their season at home to Almere City on August 19 (NED time). They have two more friendlies before then.
He’s got predecessors in that Eerste Division too. Tamati Williams has played 42 league games there for RKC Waalwijk over the last season and a half – including a 5-1 defeat in the promotional playoffs against FC Emmen, the round before they played NEC. Williams’ contract ran up after that season and so is looking for a new club right now but if that doesn’t work out then he can always fall back on his modelling career.
Minus Williams there’s also still one-cap All Whites wonder Ben van den Broeck who is a regular for Telstar while Jesse Edge logged 10 matches for Achilles ’29 last season… but they got relegated to the third tier. And his contract ran up.
Jesse Edge, July 27: “Returning to New Zealand is not an option for me. My life is football. I have always dreamed of Europe. I still want that. I don’t ask much, because I only want to do what I love and that's play football. I'm a player who always brings energy and gives over 100% in a match. Interested clubs can get in touch. I'm open to everything,” he said with a smile.
Niko Kirwin (AC Mestre)
Having a bit more luck getting a club was Niko Kirwan. Last edition of this thing we mentioned how he was on trial in Italy, putting that split heritage to some good use. More lately it’s been confirmed that he must’ve done more than enough there because they made it official.
A pretty cool story is that Niko’s famous father was there in person as he signed his first pro contract. Here below they both are talking Italian and saying all the things you’d expect them to on a proud day such as that. Mestre play in the third division of Italian footy, having been promoted last season.
Funny thing is, if you wanna claim that he only got this chance because of his family then you’d be right… but it wasn’t Papa John that sorted him out. His sister Francesca has a friend with some club connections and through that lead Niko sent in some video footage of himself playing. That video turned into a two day trial which turned into a 12 day preseason camp and has now turned into a year’s contract with an option for a second. Pretty much on par with Mike den Heijer’s level of hustle there.
Some Other Stuff
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