On this week’s episode of the Official Isuzu UTE A-League Podcast, host Daniel Garb was joined by KEEPUP’s Tom Smithies and David Davutovic to discuss why we could be seeing a number of record-breaking transfer deals coming out of Australia in the near future. Listen below.
With the 2022/23 Isuzu UTE A-League season coming to a close, the silly season is drawing nearer.
Many young Australian players throughout this campaign have put their names up in lights off the back of incredible seasons for their respective clubs, and are now garnering the interest of European teams.
One of those names is Melbourne City’s Jordan Bos, who is reportedly on the wish lists of a number of overseas sides this off-season.
As reported by KEEPUP’s David Davutovic, Bos is set to break the record for an outbound A-Leagues transfer, with several clubs preparing bids in excess of $1.5 million for the City full-back’s services.
Davutovic joined Daniel Garb and KEEPUP’s Tom Smithies on this week’s edition of The Official Isuzu UTE A-League Podcast, to discuss what he described as an “important period” for the A-Leagues on the transfer front as Bos looks set to lead a host of outbound deals for young Australians.
Listen below to the Official Isuzu UTE A-League Podcast
“It’s worth noting, in terms of transfers, it’s a really, really positive and important period for the A-Leagues,” Davutovic said.
“I wrote that Jordan Bos looks set to break the A-Leagues outbound transfer record, and a deal could be done, a deal is imminent there with plenty of overseas interest in Bos. He also could break the all-time Australian record, which is still from 1995: Zeljko Kalac’s transfer to Leicester City from Sydney United.
“There’s been a a few rumours, in the last week that it could be a Belgian club, so expect a deal for Jordan Bos to be done in coming weeks, but he will almost certainly leave at the end of the season.
“I believe it’s a club completely unrelated to the City Football Group, so there’s been plenty of interest within the City Football Group and outside of it, so that gives you an idea of how much of an impact Jordan Bos has made, this season and the previous season, he (also) made his Socceroos debut.
“It’s a really significant period for Australian football because I think it’s been a combination of more younger players getting opportunities at A-League level. They’re clearly making an impact for the national teams, from the Olyroos, the Under 23s, through to the Socceroos, and we saw that in Qatar at the World Cup.”
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The other big name young Australian that looks set to make the overseas is Adelaide United wunderkind Nestory Irankunda.
Network 10 analyst Andy Harper broke the story on commentary during the Sydney FC v Newcastle Jets contest last Saturday, saying world football giants Bayern Munich were interested in his services.
Davutovic shed some more light on the rumours and provided some more clarity on the intricacies surrounding the deal due to still being a teenager.
“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. There is a lot of interest in Nestory Irankunda,” he said.
“My understanding is that, some think it could be done over the next few weeks, certainly before the Grand Final.
“I guess the good news for Adelaide United and for A-Leagues fans is that Irankunda would stay in the A-Leagues next season, he only just turned 17… under FIFA (regulations), he needs to be 18 to move overseas, without an EU passport.
“There’s a number of clubs in for him and I understand that Bayern Munich are one of those clubs. So it looks like a deal could be done in coming weeks.”
Meanwhile, Perth Glory attacking midfielder Keegan Jelacic is one of a “few” others who are gaining overseas interest after a breakout season out west.
“Keegan Jelacic from Perth Glory is attracting a lot of interest from abroad as well,” he said.
“That could be a potentially a seven figure transfer fee as well, so really positive period for the A-Leagues and A-Leagues clubs.”
In Davutovic’s eyes, he also believes this is the most exciting crop of Australian players coming through the ranks since the famed ‘Golden Generation’ that took the Socceroos to the FIFA World Cup in 2006.
“This is absolutely the most exciting, I think from an A-Leagues point of view, there was that period there in 2013, 14, 15 where you had Adam Taggart, Danny Da Silva, Josh Brillante, they were making really good moves,” he said.
“Brillante signed for Fiorentina, made his Serie A debut, there was da Silva, went to Roma, then on loan to, to Holland, Roda JC. Taggart to Fulham like there were good deals, there were good transfer fees.
“In a lot of instances that didn’t work out. Obviously, Garang (Kuol) has gone this season to Newcastle, on loan to Hearts. He’s having some challenges, but he’s still young.
“This is the most positive in terms of players going abroad and attracting interest from overseas clubs, and I think it’s the most significant period we’ve had in the A-Leagues era.”
Smithies, on the other hand, believes a big part of the recent resurgence has come down to the young players starting to see more minutes on a week-to-week basis in the A-Leagues.
He also threw another name into the mix in Bos’ team-mate Marco Tilio, who he thinks is also ready to take the next step in his overall game after a career best season at City.
“Importantly, I think for a lot of these young players, they’ve played quite a lot of games here, before they moved, a lot of those players you mentioned particularly Da Silva went very quickly,” Smithies said.
“Taggart relatively quickly, and someone like Jordy Bos has been playing first team football for 18 months… and we talk about (Marco) Tilio… his development has been textbook so far.
“Olyroos, Socceroos, played a terrific number of games in the A-League, has a proper resume now, not just potential to show and has developed and has gone past that point of immaturity and got to the point where you’d be a lot more confident of him being able to go straight into a first team somewhere wherever he moves to.”
