Auckland FC director of football Terry McFlynn outlined his transfer plans for the Black Knights after their historic debut season in the Isuzu UTE A-League, with three players set to arrive.
Auckland broke all kinds of records and claimed the Premiership in their inaugural A-Leagues campaign before falling in the 2024-25 Semi-Finals.
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Steve Corica’s men are already busy planning for season 2025-26, with star goalkeeper Alex Paulsen (Bournemouth) and Max Mata (Shrewsbury Town) departing the New Zealand club at the conclusion of their loan deals, while Colombian attacker Neyder Moreno has also farewelled the Black Knights.
McFlynn said Auckland have already agreed to sign one player as they scour global transfer markets for recruits.
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“I think the good thing for us is that the way we set it up, was that we didn’t want to be building a squad every year,” McFlynn told aleagues.com.au.
“We staggered the contracts so some boys were on one-year (deals), some were on two, some on three. There’s a couple that were on four.
“We knew that we wanted to build a squad with a bit of continuity year in year out, so there won’t be too much of a turnover. I would expect probably three to come in and probably four to go out.
“Obviously, Alex will go back to Bournemouth. That was a loan deal. Max Mata was on loan from Shrewsbury, so he’ll go back there as well. Then there’ll be one or two that’ll probably leave. We’ve already signed one, so we’ve probably got about two to come in, possibly three.
“In terms of where we’re looking, we’ll look all over the world. So for us, it’s about finding the right character, but also the right level of competency that’s actually going to come in and make us better.
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“We’ve got one visa spot available. There’s no real point in just filling a visa spot for the sake of it. We’ll take our time with that as we did last year with the visas. Get the right player, because the one thing we’ve always worked on, Steve, myself and (Heaad of Recruitment) Dougie (Kors) when we are building teams, you always want to bring in something that’s going to improve you from the year before.
“Then we’ll look at the other teams and see what would that player play there? You probably look at Melbourne City. They’re the rivals at the minute. If that player can play in their team, then we’ll bring them into our team and see where we stack up at the end of season. But in terms of markets, we’ll look everywhere.
“The biggest challenge we have at the minute is the Kiwi dollar. It’s dropped 7% against the British pound in the last 12 months. It’s dropped 6% against the Euro, dropped 2% against the US dollar. “
Despite missing out on the Grand Final and a Championship, it was a dream first season for Auckland.
There were sell-out crowds at Go Media Stadium and records broken by Auckland in 2024-25.
The club also captured the hearts and minds of the Auckland public.
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“The way (CEO) Nick (Becker) and the team set it up off the park and connected with everyone, made it easy for the football department,” Sydney FC legend McFlynn reflected.
“We just knew that we had to make a team that the city would be proud of. I think you saw that in the first five games when we went unbeaten. The boys just had an unbelievable work ethic and application to be successful for each other and for the city.
“I think that came through, and the foreign players that came in really bought into the project as well. They’re beautiful young men as well, family men, they’re here for the right reasons. That was the biggest challenge for us, bringing in the visa players as to what’s the reason you want to come to New Zealand to a football club that doesn’t exist?
“We needed to make sure we had the right characters, and we did. You know, Hiroki Sakai is one of the most humble, down to earth people I’ve ever met, for what he’s done in the game, and the standing he has across global football.
“On the whole Steve’s a winner. That’s proven again. I think from day one in pre-season, that message was very clear, that everything we did in training, we did for a reason. We did for a purpose. There’s no point turning up and just going through the motions and wasting a day, every day is a day to get better. The boys really took that.
“Elias Boukarim, who’s our head of performance. I think the first two, three weeks, the boys absolutely despised him, hated him. But once you get to know him and know that everything he’s doing is coming from a good place, and it’s to make you better, they all love him.
“They were actually coming in on the days off to work with him and and to just to get better. In my role, it was a really pleasing aspect to sit back and see how the coaching group function together, how they work together, the togetherness between them and the players, and how everyone’s there for the right reason.
“We try and make it as fun of environment as possible. We have breakfast every morning together. We have lunch everyday. After training, we’ve got a chef who cooks for the boys. You can actually see that on the way they play, a real togetherness. Days off, they go and play golf together and do things.
“The pleasant thing is to see young kids walking down the street now with Auckland FC shirts on and in the local park, albeit it’s all still rugby posts, but you got loads of little kids in the parks playing football now. It’s just fantastic to see.
“Actually, Nick and myself, we were having dinner one night after the game, and I think it was after Newcastle game we won at home and a Kiwi boy came into the restaurant with a Guillermo May number 10 shirt on. How did that happen In 10 months? You’ve got a kiwi boy wearing a football jersey that didn’t exist 10 months ago from a player who didn’t even know the club existed either.
“The whole city got right behind us, and our job now is to try and go one better next season.”
