Adelaide United’s newest addition Vince Lia has outlined his goals as he embarks on a new chapter at the Reds.
BRINGING EXPERIENCE TO THE REDS
The 32-year-old midfielder spent a decade at Wellington Phoenix, making more than 200 Hyundai A-League appearances for the club.
After being released by Phoenix, Lia trialled to earn a deal in Adelaide and after winning a one-year deal, now wants to repay the faith shown by Marco Kurz and the club.
“It’s exciting. I had a couple of months off contract and I guess the longer that goes on the more you start to doubt whether you’re going to find something,” he said.
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“I’m glad that Adelaide have given me another opportunity and hopefully I can repay some of that faith.”
“I think it’s pretty well publicised they [United] lost a lot of their older players and it’s a very young squad.
“So I think the experience I’ve got in the league I can bring and help the young kids through with the leadership.
“We do have a couple of older guys, but a couple of them are foreigners and English is their language.
“So they’re not necessarily going to be the loudest ones on the field. That’s I guess where I can come in and lead from behind and just use my experience to play that important role.”
LIA EYES STARTING ROLE
While happy to play any role at the Reds, Lia is desperate to became a member of Kurz’s starting XI.
“I’ve got three and a half months to get myself into the starting eleven.
“I guess we’ll have a look and see what position suits me best and hopefully I can get my way into the starting eleven.
“If not, I’m here to play a role and whatever that role is.”
POSSIBLE DEBUT IN WESTFIELD FFA CUP
Ahead of Adelaide’s Westfield FFA Cup clash with Newcastle Jets on Wednesday, Lia intimated the importance of trying to string together a cup run.
“It’s important because at this stage there’s not many competitive games that you can play,” he said.
“You play a few A-Leagues in friendlies but they’re not the same. So the more competitive games that you can get the better.
“We’re a young team with new coach and a lot of new players and it’s important we get some hard games in before Round 1 and really start to gel.”
