Outside90’s James Caughlin brings us the biggest updates on Australia’s exported football talent.
As the Socceroos prepare for their mid-November double header, hosting Kyrgyzstan in Canberra before travelling to Bangladesh, several players are in fine form across Europe as their teams get further into the 2015-16 season. There was also a rare October transfer taking place, as a Socceroos hopeful finally found a club.
Mustafa Amini – Randers FC [Played]
Amini played in his side’s 2-0 cup win in midweek over lower league side FC Helsingor. Goals a quarter of an hour into the game and the same time from the final whistle helped them comfortably advance, as Amini continues to impress with his new Danish employers. He earns a consistent starting spot, which will only further his development. One other note to come from this game is that fellow expat Jack Duncan made is first appearance as a goalkeeper for Randers, having been a back-up so far after signing from Perth.
Massimo Luongo – QPR [Played & Won]
His Ballon D’Or nomination clearly did not impress his club side as Luongo played just under an hour for the Rangers before being withdrawn with the score still tied at 0-0. They went on to notch a 3-0 victory with goals after the Australian’s withdrawl and currently occupy 10th place in the Championship. Luongo has yet to get on the scoresheet for his new club, but his presence is being felt as he has started 11 of the 13 league games and is clearly a pivotal member of the squad.
Tim Cahill – Shanghai Shenua [Advanced to Cup Final]
The mercurial veteran of Australian football continues to have a phenomenal run of form in China as he helped fire the team to the domestic cup final in a 4-1 midweek victory to complete a 7-3 aggregate win. Cahill opened the scoring and put the tie beyond doubt, before Demba Ba helped out. A victory in the final over Jiangsu Guoxin-Sainty would give them a spot in next season’s Asian Champions League and set up a potential visit to Australia with his club side. Unfortunately he was unable to back this up over the weekend, as he played in a 1-0 loss in the league, preventing them from keeping place with the top five teams with the season draws to a close.
Luke Brattan – Manchester City [Transfer]
After plenty of speculation, the long awaited move for Brattan to English giants Manchester City was finally confirmed when he signed a four-year deal. It is a great opportunity for him to learn in one of the most well equipped clubs in the world and when he returns from his loan spell at Bolton Wanderers he will get that chance.
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Realistically, going out on loan will be the only way he will get any sort of meaningful game time and questions remain about where his ultimate potential will place him in the City squad, but for now it is a good story to keep track of.
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