A-League: Sydney FC recruit Alex Baumjohann says he’s happy he left Western Sydney Wanderers
Poached Western Sydney Wanderer Alex Baumjohann hopes to play his best football with Sydney FC, lamenting his former club “gave up very early” last season.
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Former Wanderer Alex Baumjohann has ignited the Sydney derby early, accusing his old club of giving up on their season and saying he’s glad to have finally defected to the Sky Blues.
Rumours of a rift with coach Markus Babbel preceded Sydney FC’s shrewd off-season buy, one that will upset Wanderers fans when the German runs out for Steve Corica’s side at Bankwest Stadium in round three.
“Last year was really tough for me because I was told other things before I joined the club (Wanderers) – that we would have a team that can play for winning the league,” the 32-year-old Baumjohann told The Daily Telegraph.
“The whole year was just tough because I think some people just gave up very early.
“It was just about next year – the new stadium, the new facilities. It was just all about next year, next year, next year.
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“It seemed like a lot of people already gave up during the season when they saw that things were not going that well, and then lots of players got blamed.
“But I'm not that guy that likes to talk negative about things in the past. I'm just looking in front, and I'm so happy to be here.
“Now I'm so happy that things worked like this, because maybe if things worked differently I wouldn't be here now.
“I said it from day one that I'm here, I think Sydney FC is the biggest club in Australia. I'm not playing in the league for a long time, but I could see this very early last season, that this club is all about winning, all about trophies.
“Everything is for a reason and I'm just happy to be here now, with a great coach and a great coaching staff and great players around me.
“I can play my best football with all these people around me.”
They include evergreen Serb and 2016-17 Johnny Warren Medallist Milos Ninkovic, praised by playmaker Baumjohann as “one of the best players ever who played in the league” and alongside whom he’ll sit in Sydney’s attack behind strike force Adam Le Fondre and Melbourne Victory defector Kosta Barbarouses.
“Ninko’s and my strengths are setting up the strikers and it just helps if we have so much quality in front,” Baumjohann said.
“The strikers are both very good. These two guys guarantee you lots of goals and that makes it easier for me.”
Sydney commence their championship defence tonight away to Gertjan Verbeek’s Adelaide United, their first competitive match since early August’s premature FFA Cup round-of-32 exit.
They’ll do so without first-choice goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne and right-back Rhyan Grant, both on Socceroos World Cup qualifying duty.
Back-up ‘keeper Tom Heward-Belle is set for his first A-League start since January 2016 with Central Coast, and reliable utility Paulo Retre looks the most likely to fill in for Grant.
“We are all looking forward for a very good season,” Baumjohann said.
“The pre-season is a little bit annoying because it's so long. Last year I just arrived I think in mid-August, so it was just six or eight weeks for the season to start.
“Now I'm here since day one of pre-season for three months. We just can't wait to start.”