After impressing the club during a one week training stint, Hamilton teenager Marco Rojas has been signed on a two-year deal by Hyundai A-League club Wellington Phoenix.
The 17-year-old was initially the recipient of the club’s Yellow Fever scholarship, and awarded a $5000 grant to train with the Phoenix for a week. He was then asked to return for another trial and was selected in the club’s pre-season match against Melbourne Victory last weekend.
Rojas made an immediate impact when he was introduced after half time, setting up Troy Hearfield’s 77th minute goal in the 1-1 draw.
Still trying to come to terms with the deal, Rojas was overwhelmed by his signing.
“It’s incredible. This is a dream come true and I can’t wait to get to Wellington. I’ve got a lot of people at Yellow Fever to thank for all of this.” Rojas said.
Phoenix chief executive Tony Pignata also gave credit to Wellington’s supporters group Yellow Fever for making the club aware of Rojas.
“This year and last year Yellow Fever have had a program where they go out and search for a ‘star of the future’ and we allowed the winner to be involved at the club for a week.”
“Funnily enough, he probably came at the right time. He had more opportunities to play in trial games with the All Whites away and he did very well.”
Rojas’ trial was watched closely by Phoenix assistant coaches Luciano Trani and Jonathon Gould, who were in charge while head coach Ricki Herbert was in South America coaching the All Whites.
“We took a good, long look at him and with Ricki away it was great to have high-calibre staff in Luc and Gouldy monitoring things. They were very impressed with Marco’s energy and technical ability and gave their opinions to Ricki, who liked what he saw in Queenstown.” Pignata said.
“Victory were pretty much at full strength and when Marco came on he certainly didn’t look out of place. That clinched it and we’re very happy to sign him as our mandatory third under-21 player.”
Meanwhile, Wellington also announced today that utility Jeremy Christie had not been re-signed by the club.
Christie departs after 27 games over two years at the Phoenix.
