Thomas Aquilina was unable to secure a European contract last season, but he is confident that his move to Central Coast Mariners may be just what he needs to make his dreams of playing in the ‘capital of football’ come true.
Aquilina signed with the Mariners for the 2022/23 A-League Men season, after spending seven years with Western Sydney Wanderers.
Last season, he had managed to capture the attention of clubs from Austria and the Netherlands. Unfortunately, the interest didn’t lead to a contract for the 21-year-old.
“There were conversations here and there but nothing concrete,” said Aquilina.
“There are talks about most players moving overseas, but sometimes it doesn’t happen.”
However, Aquilina feels that his move to the Mariners may be enough to polish his skills and land the foreign contract he missed out on last season.
“You can see that the Mariners are willing to help opportunities come to light, taking players overseas,” he said.
“So knowing that, and knowing Monty (Nick Montgomery) and Serg (Sérgio Raimundo), I do believe that [a foreign contract] is a possibility in the future.”
The young right-back seems to have his sights on Europe in particular.
“Europe’s the goal. All of Europe is pretty much the capital of football so if I can land a deal in any [European] country, I would be happy with that,” he said.
The Mariners may end up being Aquilina’s golden ticket to Europe as the club have helped many talented, young players reach their full potential and secure contracts with foreign clubs.
A recent example is Garang Kuol, who will join Newcastle United in England next year.
While Aquilina is hopeful that his dreams of a European signing could become reality, he also understands that he must focus on his performance with the Mariners to make that happen.
“If you ask any player, their dream goal is to eventually get to Europe or get to those bigger leagues, but I know that you need to do the basics first to get over there. You need to play games. You need to be consistent,” he said.
“So for the time being, I’m just taking it game-by-game, and focusing on playing well and helping the team win games.”
With their productive and successful pre-season, Aquilina is certain that the Mariners will continue to build on their progress from the previous years.
“I think there’s something special building here and we can go deeper than last year,” he said.
“We know we’re the fittest in the league. No-one can match our pace. So for 90 minutes, I think it’s going to be a non-stop challenge for teams to play it out and get past us because we’ve got the mentality that no one’s going to beat us.”
Of course, the true test will come on Sunday when Central Coast go up against Wellington Phoenix in their first match of the season.
Feature Image Credit: Aaron Leslie
Enjoy this content? Support The Football Sack
Due in part to COVID and lack of current sponsorship we are at risk of not having the funds to continue running The Football Sack. If you enjoy our content and support our work in training talented young writers, please support us with a donation. If every reader contributed just $3, our funding would be covered for over ten years.
| DONATE |
