Stuff reporting the deal is worth more than $1 million. So likely with Paulsen and Old gone we've netted north of $3 million. Will more than make up for a TV money shortfall.
Old, Paulsen, and even Ben Waine, I feel they should have stayed for one more season each. Why? Just to reinforce their potential and realize it. Singh Should've done the same too. If anything, to prove consistencey.
Old, Paulsen, and even Ben Waine, I feel they should have stayed for one more season each. Why? Just to reinforce their potential and realize it. Singh Should've done the same too. If anything, to prove consistencey.
Despite only playing one season as a starter, Paulsen is ready imo. Waineo I agree could’ve used another season as a starter, but with Zawada having just arrived, I’m not sure he would’ve gotten the extra minutes he needed.
With Old it remains to be seen. He’s played almost exactly the same number of A-League minutes as Waineo (3136 Waine, 3432 Old) so on that basis he’s probably played enough at this level. But at the same time Ligue 1 is a big step up. Denis Genreau struggled for game time when he made the move, but I reckon Oldie’s skills are better suited to a super sub role than either Waine or Genreau, so that should give him some guaranteed minutes before he nails down a starting spot.
The problem for the Nix, as per the Surman 'nominal fee' rumours is you leave it too late, (last 12 months of a contract) - you potentially hugely reduce the highly valuable transfer fee income.
If the player feels they are ready, and the offer is really good, in this current shark financial environment for the A League you have to take the money. It's not just cash for the owners, it's the whole club that benefits. The ALW team, the academy teams, all the staff.
Plus these guys have been in a pro football environment now for 5-6 years, since first entering the Academy. They have been listening in daily to old heads like Ball, Wootten, etc talk about the challenges of Europe. The right people in the club will after 5-6 years know these young guys inside out. Know their families and support networks, and importantly know how mentally tough they are or not, and so their readiness for such a big move.
It's cliched but once you get to this level and have all the technical skills, high fitness then so much of it then comes down to the top 2 inches. How much do you want it, how will you respond to the inevitable set backs etc. These Weenix grads are far far better equipped to do well up there, than say naive green guys in the past getting signed from NZ domestic football into the UK.
You get the sense from far away St Etienne really want Old, and will have a plan for him. No reason he can't improve & grow as a player in France.
The right club/manager is oh so important. Libby starting in Belgium definitely got that right. With time hopefully Plymouth will be seen at a good start for Waineo. Sadly Singh hasn't yet been able to find that right home for him.
Hopefully the NIX can use the Olympics as a bit of leverage on Surman to the MLS - give us something we can say yes to now, or take the risk he plays a good Olympic campaign and some other teams take notice and a willing to stump up more cash for him.
If the fee is nominal - no real risk to the NIX doing the above.
Man hopefully all these successful transfers make us enticing to young Kiwis now that they have options in NZ.
Yeah, shipping players off to Ligue 1, the EPL, the Erevidisie and the MLS all in the same window is the surely the most impressive off-season we've ever had.
The problem for the Nix, as per the Surman 'nominal fee' rumours is you leave it too late, (last 12 months of a contract) - you potentially hugely reduce the highly valuable transfer fee income.
If the player feels they are ready, and the offer is really good, in this current shark financial environment for the A League you have to take the money. It's not just cash for the owners, it's the whole club that benefits. The ALW team, the academy teams, all the staff.
Plus these guys have been in a pro football environment now for 5-6 years, since first entering the Academy. They have been listening in daily to old heads like Ball, Wootten, etc talk about the challenges of Europe. The right people in the club will after 5-6 years know these young guys inside out. Know their families and support networks, and importantly know how mentally tough they are or not, and so their readiness for such a big move.
It's cliched but once you get to this level and have all the technical skills, high fitness then so much of it then comes down to the top 2 inches. How much do you want it, how will you respond to the inevitable set backs etc. These Weenix grads are far far better equipped to do well up there, than say naive green guys in the past getting signed from NZ domestic football into the UK.
You get the sense from far away St Etienne really want Old, and will have a plan for him. No reason he can't improve & grow as a player in France.
The right club/manager is oh so important. Libby starting in Belgium definitely got that right. With time hopefully Plymouth will be seen at a good start for Waineo. Sadly Singh hasn't yet been able to find that right home for him.
There is a balancing act that they have to do around the risk of longer contracts with the squad caps. Back when the academy was just starting, Merrick was pushing to try and scrap the player cap for just that reason.
Man hopefully all these successful transfers make us enticing to young Kiwis now that they have options in NZ.
I think it’s great. So many new clubs and cities to learn about. Empoli, St Ettiene, St Truiden, Plymouth😉, Bournemouth 😉😉… That is such a cool signing video! I hope Ben gives them a lot of joy. And I hope they can get a couple of goals up and enjoy it!
It’s great to have the youngsters leave and Marco return. You gotta remember we never had a full season of Marco at anywhere like his peak. It might feel like it, but he blew away teams from a few sub appearances and went to Melbourne iirc. We were lucky to have Oldy for a good couple of seasons there…
Old, Paulsen, and even Ben Waine, I feel they should have stayed for one more season each. Why? Just to reinforce their potential and realize it. Singh Should've done the same too. If anything, to prove consistencey.
I used to think like that, but also your most productive time as a player is before you get too comfortable. I’m looking at the way Saka and Mainoo got their starts. And that Spanish wunderkint. Strike while the irons hot and the desire is really there and is my new feeling. Age isn’t the only key, it’s physicality and temperament mostly.
As well as that, make the final boss harder and players will often push themselves further.
Man hopefully all these successful transfers make us enticing to young Kiwis now that they have options in NZ.
Yeah, shipping players off to Ligue 1, the EPL, the Erevidisie and the MLS all in the same window is the surely the most impressive off-season we've ever had.
Oh man got excited at the Eredivisie thing and then realised you meant Zawada…
You mean the only bit of good news out of France. Their politics is a mess. Another election looms when the left wing collation falls apart due to inevitable infighting.
Cool welcome for Old from those Saint Étienne kids. Ben is in for some ride. Saint Étienne stadium has one of the best ambiance’s in France. The supporters are completely crazy passionate. The noise and the atmosphere are something else. Even in their year in Ligue 2 they averaged over 26,000 spectators with six games over 35,000. If I was Ben I would skip the Olympics. It’s impossible to overstate the importance of a full preseason when you first arrive at a big club. Especially for Ben in a new country, new language and completely different football culture. Looks like he will be away for a big part of preseason with the last NZ pool game 30th July and Ligue 1 starting weekend 16th August.
You mean the only bit of good news out of France. Their politics is a mess. Another election looms when the left wing collation falls apart due to inevitable infighting.
You mean the only bit of good news out of France. Their politics is a mess. Another election looms when the left wing collation falls apart due to inevitable infighting.
Cool welcome for Old from those Saint Étienne kids. Ben is in for some ride. Saint Étienne stadium has one of the best ambiance’s in France. The supporters are completely crazy passionate. The noise and the atmosphere are something else. Even in their year in Ligue 2 they averaged over 26,000 spectators with six games over 35,000. If I was Ben I would skip the Olympics. It’s impossible to overstate the importance of a full preseason when you first arrive at a big club. Especially for Ben in a new country, new language and completely different football culture. Looks like he will be away for a big part of preseason with the last NZ pool game 30th July and Ligue 1 starting weekend 16th August.
2 min chat Old with someone in this article. Speaks impressively. Far more articulate & intelligent than I ever was at 21 yrs old.
Credit to him, his family, and again the Phoenix for preparing these kids well for the big moves overseas. It will be tough, he'll have his ups & downs, but as someone else said you detect Old also has a bit of steel about him. Hopefully he goes well.
Agree that selfishly for him it would be best that he skips the Olympics, but it sounds like Saint Etienne are very supportive, no doubt helped by a bit of buzz in Gaul now about hosting the games. I'm sure alot of their fans will now tune in to the Olywhite's games for a look at their new signing.
Old said he only wanted to leave the Phoenix if he knew he would be able to continue his development.
“It was obviously going to be hard no matter where I went in the world but I wanted it to be a place where I felt as comfortable as I could be with a team surrounding me,” Old said.
“Secondly, I wanted it to be a place where I can develop as a footballer because at the end of the day that’s the most important thing.
“Whether this is the highest peak I hit or not, I wanted it to be the best stepping stone to be the best player I can be and talking to the players at Saint-Étienne, it was exactly what I wanted to hear.”
After a whirlwind first few days in France, Old has already started pre-season training with his new team. However, he will be heading across to Paris shortly to link up with the Oly Whites ahead of the Olympics.
Old was named in Darren Bazeley’s 18-man squad on the same day as he was unveiled as a Saint-Étienne player.
Despite his recent arrival, Old said his new club were very supportive of his international career and were happy to release him for the Olympics.
Old was part of the squad in Tokyo in 2021 but never took the field.
“Even though I didn’t think it’d be a deal-breaker, it’s so important for me to be able to play for my country so a question I brought up very early on was the Olympics and they were so for me playing for my country.
“On top of everything else, it gave me the confidence they were the team that I wanted to be involved with.”
Anyone know when the NZ Olympic squad gets together in Paris? Just looking at the Saint Étienne pre season. They are in camp from 13th to 20th July with their first pre season game against Clermont on 20th. I would imagine Old will be in Paris well before 20th as the Guinea game is on 25th. SE then play La Liga team Villarreal on 27th then Montpellier on 31st. So I guess Old will miss the first three preseason games and possibly more if they progress in Paris. He could be back for SE game against Grenoble on 3rd of August and then they go to Madrid to play Getafe on 7th. Personally I think he would have got more out of staying with his club. The two games against La Liga sides would be a great test for him. By August the coach would have sorted out his starting eleven and would want to give them maximum game time to gel before Ligue1 starts on 17th. Old will be on the outside fighting against team mates who already know the drills, patterns etc from preseason. It’s called starting on the back foot!
Have the French mentioned he was a golf prodigy yet?? It's a good move in some ways for him. St Entienne is NOT a "Powerhouse" like they once were but they are on the road back.
Anyone know when the NZ Olympic squad gets together in Paris? Just looking at the Saint Étienne pre season. They are in camp from 13th to 20th July with their first pre season game against Clermont on 20th. I would imagine Old will be in Paris well before 20th as the Guinea game is on 25th. SE then play La Liga team Villarreal on 27th then Montpellier on 31st. So I guess Old will miss the first three preseason games and possibly more if they progress in Paris. He could be back for SE game against Grenoble on 3rd of August and then they go to Madrid to play Getafe on 7th. Personally I think he would have got more out of staying with his club. The two games against La Liga sides would be a great test for him. By August the coach would have sorted out his starting eleven and would want to give them maximum game time to gel before Ligue1 starts on 17th. Old will be on the outside fighting against team mates who already know the drills, patterns etc from preseason. It’s called starting on the back foot!
Ben mentioned in one of the media releases that he was spending all this week and this weekend with St E, before joining up with the NZ squad early next week when the rest of the squad travel to France.
Olivier Dall’Oglio, ASSE coach: “Ben is a very young player, brave, who arrives from the other side of the world and with whom it will be necessary to be patient. But he has the abilities to bring something interesting. He’s got an impressive profile, very high work-rate, and mostly plays on the left but is capable of performing in several positions.”
Their stadium is actually one of the venues for the Olympic Games – the Football Ferns will play their opening game against Canada there.
They also do this thing at Saint-Étienne called “Vert l'Avenir”, aka Green The Future. The club’s main colour is green and they tie that in with their club-wide social initiatives. Part of that is getting all of their employees, players especially, to advocate one of the four pillars of that programme: Community, Environment, Health, and Sport For All. Oldy went with Sport For All. Beautiful stuff.
There was also no question of him being withheld from the Olympics, with Old granted permission to attend same as they did for his new ASSE teammate Benjamin Bouchouari who’ll be featuring for Morocco. As we learned with a few others, particularly those at English Premier League clubs, that was far from a given due to the tournament taking place outside of the FIFA window. So big churs to Saint-Étienne. Big churs until they changed their mind. French media are now reporting that Old turned up with an ankle issue and after discussions with his coach/club they’ve decided he won’t be linking up with the OlyWhites after all. Old will have an individualised training programme for a few days while they get him back up to scratch.
The Saint Étienne coach has confirmed that Old has an ankle injury which will require on going treatment and that he won’t be available for SE opening preseason game on 20th. I don’t see anywhere that it has been confirmed that he has pulled out of the Olympics. Interesting reading the fan SE fan sites. The injury has been described as ´ blessure diplomatiqué’ i.e diplomatic injury. I guess we will never know but the fans are saying that realities of pro football are greater than playing in an Olympic age group tournament. It will be interesting to see when he ´recovers’. certainly his goal should be to participate in the two preseason games against the La Liga teams. SE have just recruited a couple of decent looking attacking players whom Ben will in direct competition for a starting place. It will certainly help him being around for the whole preseason.
For all you insomniacs in NZ Saint Etiennes first preseason game will be streamed live on YouTube. 6pm Saturday 20th French time. Not sure if Old will get some minutes as there are conflicting stories about him having an ankle injury but he seemed to be running around ok in the training vids.
For all you insomniacs in NZ Saint Etiennes first preseason game will be streamed live on YouTube. 6pm Saturday 20th French time. Not sure if Old will get some minutes as there are conflicting stories about him having an ankle injury but he seemed to be running around ok in the training vids.
Dunno if anything was said about why, but no Old today for Saint-Etienne. Hopefully we see a glimpse of him next Saturday when they play Villarreal at home.
