The thing about leagues with import restrictions is that it’s not worth signing imports unless they’re going to be better than the local players you’ve already got. The locals are cheaper and lower risk. Hence your imports had better be coming in to be genuine first eleven starters who raise the level of the team, guys who can do things that nobody else can. The measure of an A-League team goes beyond the different looking flags on their wikipedia squad list but it’s often those foreigners who’ll take a team above and beyond.

The only non-import players to win the Johnny Warren Medal after the initial three years of the A-League were, funnily enough, both Wellington Phoenix players: Shane Smeltz (2008-09) and Nathan Burns (2014-15). Marco Rojas won it in 2012-13 but of course, being an Aotearoa bloke, he counts as an import for the Melbourne Victory. Roy Krishna did get localised status during his JWM season, to be fair, but again he’s a Welly Nixer anyway.

Import players are key players. Teams rely on their imports. Even amidst the covid pandemic that’s no different to ever before. You want some proof? Here are all the imports to have taken the pitch in the A-League Mens so far this season. Imports as in occupying a visa spot on the roster, not including naturalised folks or dual-citizens here.

Import Prominence By Club, as of 12 Jan (mins/% of team’s mins):

Adelaide United: Jakobsen (540/85.7%), Lopez (539/85.6%), Juande (366/58.1%)
Brisbane Roar: Lescano (114/31.7%), Steinmann (184/51.1%), O’Shea (360/100%)
Central Coast Mariners: Moresche (296/65.8%), Urena (444/98.7%), Nkololo (134/29.8%), Muller (17/3.8%), Goddard (354/78.7%)
Macarthur FC: Mutch (98/18.1%), Noone (519/96.1%), Mariappa (270/50%), Davila (270/50%), Kurto (377/69.8%)
Melbourne City: Berenguer (410/75.9%), Nuno Reis (515/95.4%)
Melbourne Victory: Kelava (630/100%), Margiotta (276/43.8%), Rojas (280/44.4%), Miranda (450/71.4%), Marchan (474/75.2%)
Newcastle Jets: Penha (414/92.0%), Boumal (384/85.3%), Mikeltadze (449/99.8%), Siatravanis (102/22.7%), Arques (13/2.9%)
Perth Glory: Lachman (360/100%), Sturridge (6/1.7%), Ota (330/91.7%), Sardinero (235/65.3%), Fornaroli (354/98.3%)
Sydney FC: Bobo (71/13.1%), Le Fondre (393/70.9%), Ninkovic (329/60.9%)
Wellington Phoenix: Ball (525/97.2%), Hooper (298/55.2%)
Western Sydney Wanderers: Rodwell (217/40.2%), Hemed (382/70.7%), Ogawa (345/63.9%)
Western United: Diamanti (436/80.7%), Lacroix (450/83.3%), Imai (495/91.7%), Prijovic (129/23.9%)

There are stories behind every one of those names as well as several more that aren’t named. For example, Kosta Barbarouses has had his season wrecked by injury so far and hasn’t played. Marco Rojas missed a little bit of time too come to think of it. Western United signed a Slovakian fella called Rene Krhin who has yet to feature at all between covid quarantining and covid postponements. Daniel Sturridge’s (lack of) game time with Perth has been a headline-maker. Likewise Manuel Pucciarelli only just made his Melbourne City debut in the FFA Cup defeat to the Nix. We could keep going on and on with those yarns.

But the point of this whole introductory yarn is that the Wellington Phoenix have been operating at a handicap so far by only using two import spots. Not only that but after Gary Hooper left for personal reasons they were down to just David Ball running around out there amongst an otherwise young and inexperienced group of Kiwis and Aussies for a couple of matches. That’s a pretty bloody big disadvantage even before you get to the players they’ve lost from last season’s squad and the living overseas thing and whatever else you wanna list.

Never fear though because help is on the way. Gael Sandoval and Scott Wootton have both been signed for the remainder of the season. The Welly Nix fellas doubling their import tally in one fell swoop, getting them back on something resembling an even playing field. Plus as much of a bummer as their current covid outbreak is, with that anxious uncertainty as to whether there’ll be any lingering effects, it has also caused a couple games to be postponed that would have been played without Sandoval and Wootton which now they’ll get to play with them instead, all things going to plan. A helpful silver lining.

As to what the pair have to offer, it’s not that complicated. They’re literally replacements for Ulises Davila and Steven Taylor... just a few months late is all. They’re even from the same countries. In fact Davila helped facilitate the Sandoval deal. Old mate put in the good word for his former club to one of his own old mates – Sandoval is a couple years younger than Davila but the pair played together for Santos Laguna four years ago in the Liga MX. For Davila, that was after his time with Chelsea. Sandoval meanwhile has never played outside his homeland so there is that added element of risk here as he joins on loan from Guadalajara (aka Chivas).

Sandoval’s not a big fella. Similar to Davila in that way, though he’s definitely more of a winger compared to Uli. Less of that guile and drift to his game and more direct running. Sandoval will take on defenders. He’ll look to create, look to take shots at goal. He’ll likely have the same role as Davila in the team but will bring his own style to the table. More width. A bit of trickery. Should be plenty of fun.

What’ll be interesting is which side they play him on. Davila always lined up on the right so as to be able to slice onto his left boot and shoot. Sandoval is right footed but from his highlights he has that same ability to get a quick shot away on the cut so it could be that he finds himself on the left. Probably should find himself on the left, considering how Reno Piscopo has shown a preference for the right wing this season while Ben Old is also more naturally inclined to that side and David Ball has played much better there than on the left. In which case... gotta rate the balance that Sandoval brings. James McGarry is bound to love it most of all.

The Nix have only scored once across their four game losing streak. Gary Hooper’s return will go a long way towards helping them convert some of their chances into goals but a deeper issue has been that they haven’t created nearly enough in the first place. Only Brisbane and Perth (both ravaged by covid postponements) are averaging fewer shots per ninety mins than the Phoenix yet Perth have still scored the same amount of goals and that’s without the aid of any penalties (of which WPX have had two: one scored, one missed).

Sandoval is exactly the kind of player those performances have been crying out for. Someone who can create something out of nothing, someone who’ll keep defences on their toes knowing that they cannot stand off him or else it’ll be trouble... which in turn creates space for the fullbacks pushing up and the strikers running in behind. Sandoval should be someone who can play outside of the team’s structures which will, as an ironic result, improve those structures.

As for Scott Wootton, he doesn’t quite have the pedigree of Steven Taylor despite the chat about his Manchester United academy origins. Wootton never played a Premier League game for the Red Devils though he did play a pair of Champions League matches back in 2012 – both against CFR Cluj. Sir Alex Ferguson even gave him the start in one of them. This bloke once walked out at Old Trafford alongside the likes of Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs, David De Gea, and Javier Hernandez – Wootton playing CB with Chris Smalling that day. Unfortunately they lost 1-0 for United’s first group stage defeat at home in a decade (though there’ve been a few more since)... but that was fine, all goods, no dramas. They’d already qualified through as group winners. In fact Fergie had made ten changes from the team that played the previous weekend’s PL fixture which is why Wootton was called upon. Rooney was the only remaining starter as they tried to build up his match fitness.

Scott Wootton was sold to Leeds a year later and went on to play three seasons with them in the Championship – his time there overlapping with Chris Wood’s at the end - before a busted ACL slowed him down. Since then he’s hovered between League One and League Two. He’s been playing for Morecambe most recently. So yeah not the many years of Premier League experience that Stevie T brought down under, to be fair.

But Stevie T was a rare luxury signing. The important thing about Wootton is that he’s a 30 year old career central defender who backs himself as a leader and has experienced professional footy at a number of levels. Which hopefully will help him relate to a very young Nix team around him... specifically in that defence. Because as much as the attacking areas have been a slog lately, defensively they’ve been awful. Not only have the Nix conceded a league-worst 17.50 shots per ninety minutes through these first six matches but 38.1% of those shots have been on target. Way worse than the Melbourne City’s 33.8% in second... and City concede the fewest average shots, not the most.. It’s been shambolic at the back. 14 goals conceded in six games.

The personnel has largely been the same throughout those six ALM games. Tim Payne and Josh Laws have started all six in central defence. James McGarry and Callan Elliot have been the fullbacks with the exception of one game where Sam Sutton and Louis Fenton started. All quality players who offer unique skills to any Phoenix line-up... but here’s the problem:

Payne is a converted centre-back.
Laws is a converted centre-back.
McGarry is a converted fullback.
Elliot is a converted fullback.
Sutton is a converted fullback.
Fenton is a converted fullback.

There isn’t a single natural/experienced defender among them. Not one. They’re all individually capable of playing those roles (Tim Payne’s been outstanding since moving inwards from right back) but it’s not quite the ideal formula when you stick them all together, it doesn’t quite mesh. Surely what they need is an older veteran in the mix to guard against those silly individual errors and miscommunications which keep on popping up.

An older veteran defender in the mix, you say? Yup, that’s Scott Wootton for ya. Wootts even prided himself on his communication in the press release – as well as revealing that the club tried to sign him a couple years back only it wasn’t the right time for him personally with his daughter having just been born.

The one ponderance here is which side he plays on. With Tim Payne and Josh Laws at least you had a right and left footed combo. They were each able to receive the ball with an open shoulder in the build-up. This isn’t a major drama or anything but it’s worth noting. When Steven Taylor came back last season, Tim Payne slid over to LCB but you do wonder if Wootton at LCB might be the better option just so that James McGarry has a little more protection for when he bombs forward like we wanna see.

Finn Surman got a 45-minute A-League debut off the bench in their last game. Alex Rufer then looked pretty decent at centre-back in the FFA Cup penalty shootout win over Melbourne City (not to toot the ol’ horn or anything but I did throw that cheeky possibility out there in the last Welly Nix write-up). Matthew Bozinovski will be available again when the club next plays. They do have a few options. But pretty sure nobody expects a pairing of anything other than Payne/Wootton, right?

Which in turn frees Josh Laws up to compete for a spot in the midfield as Uffie searches for a combination that works there too. Across his 4-2-2-2 formation that midfield duo will soon be the only line without an import. There is still one spot left available if there’s enough money left in the bank though...

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