Despite being pursued by a number of Isuzu UTE A-League clubs in the off-season, Isaías Sanchez knew exactly where he wanted to go before the ink had dried on a contract which signalled his Adelaide United return. He spoke to KEEPUP about how his Adelaide ‘homecoming’ was right in “my head and my heart”.
The Reds legend is back for a second stint in South Australia after departing the club in 2019 for Qatar side Al-Wakrah, where he played for two seasons.
Isaías, 34, returns to the club where he’s enjoyed the best memories of his career and his life, on a three-year-deal. He expects to play out the remainder of his career in the City of Churches.
“I spoke with my club in Qatar and we decided we couldn’t continue with my deal,” Isaías told KEEPUP.
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“I was trying to look for different options so I opened my ears and started to listen to different options for myself and for my family. I had a couple of offers to move overseas to different countries, but to be honest I wasn’t very interested in those options.
“I had two to three different clubs in the A-League that called me and asked me about my situation, and one of them was Adelaide United. Of course, I had them in my heart so it was very easy to choose them.
“Adelaide made it very easy for me. I think in my head and in my heart it was no chance for me to move to another club. I spent six years in Adelaide, all of them were very special. I have beautiful moments and beautiful memories here.
“I like the club, I like the city, for me it was an easy decision to come back to Adelaide and (not) pay attention much to the other clubs.”
Isaías is a club legend; a record four-time Club Champion, a two-time FFA Cup winner, and a star of Adelaide’s 2015/16 Premiership/Championship double-winning Isuzu UTE A-League season.
But as much as he has contributed to the club, the Spanish midfielder says the club and city – where his two children were both born – has paid it all back to him tenfold, providing him and his young family a lifestyle he was eager to experience once more.
“(I missed) a little bit of everything to be honest,” he said. “The lifestyle here is unbelievable, my lifestyle here with my family and friends was fantastic before I left, and when I was in Qatar for two years I was missing this quality of lifestyle.
“From the first day I arrived here I felt like I was back home. That helped me a lot to adapt quickly. Since the first day I arrived here I felt like I never left, and i felt very comfortable.
“For us it’s a special city, a special country. My young son, he probably doesn’t remember. He was a baby when we left. But my older daughter, she’s got a lot of memories from Adelaide. She was really excited when she found out that we were coming back, and now that we are here she’s very happy she gets her friends back.”
Signing on with the Reds brings back memories for Isaías of the first time an Australian move was presented to him by his agent in 2013.
In the car with his wife at the time, Isaías had to pull over after hearing the news, stunned by the life-changing prospect tabled to him which would forever change his life.
“It is 100% a true story that one,” he said. “We stopped the car and I said ‘give me five minutes, let me find out a little bit more about Adelaide, about Australia, because I am in shock about what you are talking about, so I don’t want to give you an answer before I find out a bit more’.
“I remember we had a quick look on Google and I found out a little bit about the league, about the city, about the country. And after that I contacted my agent again and I started to talk about (the contract).
“This time it was much easier. I didn’t need to contact my agent, I spent six years in Adelaide, in Australia, so I already have a lot of contacts here, a lot of people know me and they contact me directly.
“My decision was much easier because I already know everything about the league, everything about the club, everything about the city.”
“One of the questions the club asked me was regarding the extension of the contract, how long,” he continued. “One of the things we agreed between both of us was I was willing to spend my last years playing football in Adelaide.
“I would like to spend as much time as possible here in Adelaide, I wasn’t coming back to Adelaide to go again in one year or to fight again with another A-League club in one or two years to play my last two years at a different club.
“It’s the club where I spent the most years in my career. It’s the club where I (have) the most trophies. It’s the club where I’ve spent the peak of my career. It’s the club where I had my two children here.
“In this six-year period I had the best moments of my career, or even all my life. For me it’s something so special that made it a very easy decision for me to come back.”
Featured image credit: Jordan Trombetta – Adelaide United
