Ryan Thomas – PEC Zwolle (Dutch Eredivisie)

We can pretty much put the transfer talk to bed for a few months with Thommo. As already speculated in a few places, he was always much more likely to wait to move on until the end of the season but now he’s actually come out and said as much in an interview with De Stentor. He’s “almost certain” that he’ll still be playing for PEC in February. When you consider his newborn daughter as well, it only makes sense that he’d want to stay where he is another six months. But a change is gonna come, soon enough…

Ryan Thomas: “I am safe here. That's why I want to get out of my comfort zone. It is time for a bigger club and a bigger stage. That step should not be too small for me, as long as I’m sure I'm going to play. What I really want is to keep building.”

Typically, he’s not about going with the highest bidder either. He wants a team that’ll allow him to continue growing as a player, one that’ll give him opportunities in stronger competitions (European stuff, especially) but not one that’ll leave him on the bench half the time. So once again he knocked back the idea of the English Premier League in this interview, not considering himself ready for the physicality and intensity of that competition.

More Thommo: “A club can offer me ten million a year, but it’s more important to me that I’m getting a good feeling about it. And if that feeling is not good, I won’t go. Money doesn’t matter to me right now. I am 23 years old and have enough years ahead for me to make money. At this moment it’s mainly about the right footballing choice.”

Yeah, play it with that straight bat, son. Thommo was back into the real footy this week as PEC Zwolle hosted NAC Breda, dropping them 1-0 thanks to a Younes Mokhtar goal in the second minute. His early shot flew past Aussie keeper Mark Birighitti and while the PECers had plenty more shots, more possession and were just generally better… they were made to work hard for the win. They couldn’t manage to put away a second goal and had to rely on a couple crucial saves from keeper Diederick Boer to cling on to that clean sheet. But cling they did and it keeps them fourth on the ladder with 36 points – already one more than they got in the entirety of last season.

Ryan Thomas was top notch as well. Possibly not the influence in the final third that he’d have wanted, although he woulda had an assist if Mokhtar had been able to score from his pass early in the second half. Still made six interceptions though (twice as many than anyone else on his team), still made a couple of tackles, still won a couple fouls, still had a passing completion of 93.9% from 65 attempted passes. Pretty much picking up where he left off in career-best form, as has been the case most of this season.

Still top of the Voetbal International player ranking averages too, just quietly...

Plus over here you can vote for him as Player of the Week:

Yo and you remember a few weeks back when Declan Edge tweeted that there’d be another kiwi midfielder hitting up PEC Zwolle and Flying Kiwis deduced that it’d be Elijah Just? Well, mate, what do ya know…

Word is that he’ll trial with the club for a month, training mostly with the U21s for whom he’ll likely get a game or two but possibly getting some sessions in with the first team as well. After the home run that was Ryan Thomas, there’ll be high hopes.

Up Next: Planning on destroying Vitesse next Sunday at 7.45am (NZT)

Tommy Smith – Ipswich Town (English Championship)

Smithy on the other hand, yeah he is moving. Cat’s out of the bag and everything. You could already guess that the story was likely even as it was being denied but his illness and some of Ipswich’s other transfer struggles left the door open just enough for a stay. Then they snapped up Cameron Carter-Vickers on loan from Spurs for the rest of the season and Mick McCarthy was suddenly a whole lot keener to talk about Smith’s impending departure.

In the lead-up to their game against Bolton Wanderers, McCarthy had finally acknowledged that Colorado Rapids are, in fact, interested in snapping up Smithy, though he also added that nobody would be released without a replacement in tow. Then CCV came in, was immediately named to start in the 1-1 draw in Bolton and there ya go. 

Mick McCarthy: “You know there is some interest in him but we will just wait and see. They [Colorado Rapids] are interested but I wouldn’t sanction any move for him until I got somebody in who could play there. I think it’s just an opportunity for him that he would like to explore, certainly. He wants to play, that’s the upshot of it and he wouldn’t be playing in front of Chambo and Adam Webster. He’s at an age where he wants to play in the first team and if he gets a chance to do that he’d like to. He’s had a tough time over the last little while but he’s back, he’s fit and training. If it does happen it would be an end of an era but everything comes to an end.”

All there was left to do was await the formalities and... bingo. 

Curiously it was their vice-president/general manager that dropped the lines of welcome in the press release, rather than Anthony Hudson who now adds Smith to his collection of kiwi players that already included Kip Colvey and Deklan Wynne. You know that Huddo was a big part of this though, and Tommy made sure to mention him in his own personal message.

VP/GM Pádraig Smith: “Bringing in someone of Tommy’s caliber along the back line was a top priority for us this offseason. His experience and leadership will be great assets for us, and we look forward to him joining us in Arizona this week for the start of preseason training camp.”

As Mick McCarthy said, though, it's the end of an era. 267 games in all competitions across more than a decade with the club, scoring 23 goals. The Tractor Boys will never be the same...

Up Next: At this point, probably a flight to Colorado

Chris Wood – Burnley (English Premier League)

No Chris Wood as Burnley lost 1-0 to Manchester United. Scrapped hard but ultimately a sharp finish from Anthony Martial won the game. Other than getting whupped by Man City in the FA Cup the Clarets have been competing in every game lately but this makes it eight games in all comps without a win, going back to the 1-0 win over Stoke in mid-December.

And in a week where Dyche has been talking about “maximising resources” rather than being able to throw money around like certain big clubs out there, the Clarets have made a couple splashes in the transfer stuff. They brought in Tottenham’s Georges-Kevin N’Koudou on loan last week and they’ve since agreed terms with Aaron Lennon after he was made surplus to requirements at Everton with Theo Walcott joining.

Up Next: Away to Newcastle, Thursday Feb 1 at 8.45am (NZT)

Winston Reid – West Ham United (English Premier League)

Still not training means still a couple weeks away, most likely. Without him the Hammers were pretty average in narrowly sneaking past Shrewsbury 1-0 after extra time in their FA Cup replay. Reece Burke scored the winner in the 112th minute. Less said the better, though there was a fair bit of squad rotation involved. But Bournemouth also played a midweek replay, losing 3-0 away to Wigan, so tiredness was no issue. Neither was the dead average weather - same for both teams and all that.

Still, they’ll be disappointed not to have polished off the Cherries, playing some proper decent footy only to ex-Hammer Junior Stanislas to set up Ryan Fraser for the opening goal in the second half… except then 11 seconds after the kickoff, Javier Hernandez made it 1-1. That’s how it remained. A game that West Ham could easily have won, though at least they’re now five games unbeaten in the league and seven in all comps. Played a fair bit better here than they did when they drew 3-3 with Bournemouth on Boxing Day too.

Up Next: Away to Wigan in the FA Cup 4th Round – the team that knocked Bournemouth out! – at 4.00am on Sunday (NZT)

Jeremy Brockie – Mamelodi Sundowns (South African Premier Soccer League)

The new club vibes are strong, although Brockie did have to be content with a place on the bench for his Sundowns debut. The team took on Platinum Stars and did it easy with first half goals to Sibusiso Vilakazi and Khama Billiat (who got a five-minute double). 3-0 at half-time and 3-0 at fulltime. Brockie was subbed on to a welcoming ovation with ten mins to play and he went close to marking his first appearance with a goal with a couple efforts at goal but it wasn’t to be.

Brox wasn’t the only debutant to come off the bench for Sundowns. Aubrey Ngoma and Gaston Sirino were also recent additions to the squad who came on off the bench. The other two are primarily wingers (Ngoma is South African, Sirino is from Uruguay), which means an entirely new and very exciting attacking trio is there waiting to go.

Sundowns are now four points clear at the top of the table, having won 11 of their 18 games. The Stars are bottom so this week was always gonna be a one-sided contest, things should be tougher next time when they take on third-placed Kaizer Chiefs. Percy Tau is the bloke scoring most of their goals, with seven so far he’s second on the league golden boot chart. But he’s also 23 years old and they don’t have a lot of striking depth behind him and Khama Billiat, which is why they were so keen on Brockie. They already score way more goals than anyone else but they have to balance this with a continental challenge too – with their first round tie happening in March where a place in the group stage top 16 will be on the line.

(Translation: “Where is Brockie?”)

Ooh and shout out to Sam Mason-Smith who grabbed his first goal for Stellenbosch this week, playing in the tier below the PSL. Just picking up where he left off for Hawke’s Bay United last season, basically.

Up Next: Away to Kaizer Chiefs on Sunday at 7.45am (NZT)

Adam Mitchell – Bolton Wanderers (English Championship)

There you go, read that. Adam’s emerged as a regular for Bolton’s U23s since he rolled up, coinciding with some impressive form in the Professional Development League, where Bolton’s 23s have won eight of their last nine matches. And with Tommy Smith soon to depart to Championship, Mitchell’s one of the last remaining kiwi ties to that competition… as long as the main team doesn’t get relegated. Same story with Sunderland, as Michael Woud and Sam Brotherton were unused subs for their U23s this week. And Monty Patterson’s still playing for Ipswich’s U23s as well.

Up Next: Sheffield Wednesday U23s at 2.00am on Wednesday (NZT)

Rebekah Stott – Melbourne City (Australian W-League)

It’s an international break in most women’s leagues, but you know the FFA feels about international breaks so Melbourne City still played Brisbane Roar on Sunday, the teams cancelling each other out for a 0-0 draw. Enough to keep City fourth for now although Canberra United have a game in hand so it’s a perilous position to be in. Stotty remains one of four players to have played every minute for MCI this season, just continuing to lead the way as usual.

But we’ve got ch-ch-ch-changes a-happening back in the NWSL, where Rebekah Stott’s been traded from Seattle Reign to Sky Blue FC. Half here damn team in Melly City are from the Reign so that’s bound to be a little weird, though Sky Blue won’t exactly be a step back. Neither team made the playoffs last season, Seattle finishing one point ahead, so they were more or less even. The only issue is that a few days later Sky Blue traded away Aussie legend Sam Kerr to Chicago. Ah well, they got back American superstar Carli Lloyd in return so not much of a drop-off.

That trade was a tricky three-team thing, just like the Stott trade was. The one that matters saw Sky Blue end up with Mexican striker Katie Johnson as well as Stotty. The other one gave them Lloyd as well as Canadian star Janine Beckie and Princeton grad Jan Hoy – plus a couple draft picks. With that they were able to pick up five new players in the draft, three of those in the first round. A very clear reshuffling going on there and Stott will be a large part of trying to fix up a defence that fell apart too many times in 2017 – conceding a league-high 51 goals despite finishing sixth outta ten.

Denise Reddy, Sky Blue FC head coach: “I am really excited about internationals Stott and Johnson coming to Sky Blue FC. Stott is a proven back in this league, and her ability on the ball and running a defensive line are top level. Johnson is an attacking powerhouse with the movement, awareness and technical ability to be a top forward in this league.”

Up Next: Away to Newcastle Jets at 10.15pm on Saturday 3 Feb (NZT)

Tyler Boyd – CD Tondela (Portuguese Primeira Liga)

Boyd, you may recall, scored in his last game before the winter break. Came off the bench and slotted one away for Tondela as they were thrashed 5-1 at home by Benfica… but at least he scored. Here’s a refresher if you forgot.

If he was hoping to carry on the momentum from that, well he had to wait four weeks for their next game, so much for that. Yet when they finally did get back into things, he was given just his second league start of the season in their 1-1 draw against Vitoria Setubal, playing 58 minutes before being replaced. He was then back on the bench for the next two: nine minutes against Feirense in a 3-1 victory then 24 minutes away to red hot Porto in a battling 1-0 defeat, replacing new signing Sulley Sariki (of Ghana, who didn’t exactly impress on debut). 14 games so far for Tyler, two of them starts and 411 minutes combined with two goals.

Up Next: Away to Estoril at 8.00am on Wednesday 31 Jan (NZT)

Joel Stevens – Jönköping Södra IF (Swedish Superettan)

It’s transfer season in the Kiwi Premiership and amongst a few sideways moves and the odd international buggering back off are some kiwi youngsters getting opportunities overseas. Scandinavia has been a popular place for New Zealanders in recent years, particularly for their first strides into the pro stuff. Joel Stevens, former Phoenix academy dude and Team Wellington standout, is one of them.

He’s currently in Sweden trialling with J-Sodra, training and looking to earn a place in that squad ahead of the new season. Because of the harsh winter, they play through the summer in Scandinavia (hence Ali Riley and Hannah Wilkinson are currently back there for preseason training). Here’s the club’s assistant coach and managing scout, Christer Persson, in a text message to Jyntt.se…

Mr Persson: “Joel came to Sweden today [Jan 17] and will join his first training with us tomorrow. He will probably play Saturday's [friendly] match against HFF, he arrives in position now and will remain until next Wednesday.”

That’s that then, a good week or so to impress the folks (depending on the accuracy of the translation). J-Sodra play in the second division of Swedish footy having been relegated by playoff in 2017 after two years in the top flight.

Canterbury United midfielder James Pendrigh has also headed over to Sweden for trials, although specific details aren’t so forthcoming for him. He’s already had a stint in Sweden once before playing in the third tier for Stode IF.

Up next: First impressions and all that

Greg Draper – The New Saints (Welsh Premier League)

Well ain’t that just delightful? Keep banging them away, Greggie.

Up Next: Away to Caernarfon Town in the Welsh Cup at 8.45am on Saturday (NZT)

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