Marco Rojas has revealed that once Melbourne Victory made contact about returning to the Hyundai A-League he quickly decided to sign for the Big V.
Having failed to notch a first-team appearance in three years with Stuttgart, Rojas had realised over the past couple of months that he was again “surplus” at the 2. Bundesliga club and started to work on an exit strategy.
Rojas was released by Stuttgart on Monday and – as first revealed by Goal Australia – quickly organised a meeting with Victory coach Kevin Muscat, which ended in the 24-year-old winger signing a two-year contract on Thursday.
The New Zealand international insisted he had other offers but clearly was excited by the opportunity to return to AAMI Park.
“Once [the release] was sorted out we spoke to Victory and it was all positive,” Rojas told reporters in Melbourne.
“All the conversations went well and in the end it was an easy decision. It didn’t take too long to figure out that I wanted to come here.”
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When asked about Stuttgart, Rojas added: “It wasn’t the best situation.
“I kind of realised I was surplus to the club and when that happens it’s not a good place to be, and I’m still wanting to get better as a footballer and I need to learn, and I just didn’t think it was going to be the right place for me to do that.”
With New Zealand having qualified for the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia, Rojas underlined the importance of the upcoming season for his international ambitions.
Having had the best season of his career with Victory – the former Wellington Phoenix forward scored 15 goals in 2012-13 and won the Johnny Warren Medal – Rojas emphasised the importance of AAMI Park’s “familiar” surroundings in tempting him back to Melbourne.
While Rojas had a tough time at Stuttgart, his loan deal with FC Thun over the past 18 months gives him confidence that he can hit the ground running with Victory.
Rojas scored five goals and produced five assists in 46 competitive matches for the Swiss Super League club.
“That was very important for me. It gave me the European experience of actually playing in games that meant something,” he said.
“Before that it was just friendly games, it was just training, so getting that chance in Switzerland was very important.
“It’s where I think I learned a lot of things as well. There’s some good teams – Basel, Young Boys – you’re playing against some very good players, who play in the Champions League and the Europa League.
“So it was a very important year-and-a-half for me.”
Rojas will head to New Zealand for the rest of the week to see family before starting training with Victory on Monday.
