Sydney FC’s Alex Baumjohann slams former Wanderers teammates

Sydney FC recruit Alex Baumjohann has slammed his former Wanderers teammates for giving up on last season.

Sydney FC recruit Alex Baumjohann, right, with Rhyan Grant and Angelique Hristodoulou. Picture: Brett Costello

Former Wanderer Alex Baumjohann has ignited the Sydney derby early, accusing his old club of giving up on their season last year and saying he’s glad to have finally defected to the Sky Blues.

Rumours of a rift with Wanderers coach Markus Babbel preceded Sydney FC’s shrewd off-season acquisition, one that will upset Wanderers fans when the German midfielder 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 said.

“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.

“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.”

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Those players include evergreen Serbian 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 will sit in Sydney’s attack behind strike force Adam Le Fondre and Melbourne Victory defector Kosta Barbarouses.

Sydney start their championship defence on Friday night away to Adelaide United, their first competitive match since early August’s premature FFA Cup exit. They will do so without first-choice goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne and right-back Rhyan Grant, who are with the ­Socceroos on World Cup qualifying duty.

Back-up keeper Tom ­Heward-Belle is set for his first A-League start since he ran out with Central Coast in January 2016, and ­reliable utility Paulo Retre looks the most likely to fill in for Grant.

Meanwhile, Mariners captain Matt Simon has admitted that the perennial strugglers need a fast start to the season to offer evidence they can be a competitive threat after collecting an unenviable three wooden spoons in four years.

A fourth would open the club up to potential expulsion from the league under the regulations of their A-League ­licence, though that is scarcely conceivable now the competition has passed into the control of the club owners.

Simon launched a passionate defence of the club, insistent that reaching the semi-finals of the FFA Cup will be the start of a resurgence for the beleaguered side.

Pointing to the standards instilled by former Matildas coach Alen Stajcic, Simon said the overhauled squad was aiming to restore pride to a club that won the A-League only six years ago.

New signings include Ko­r­ean star Kim Eun-sun, goalkeeper Mark Birighitti and midfielder Milan Duric as ­Stajcic battles to change the club’s downtrodden mindset.

“The professionalism around the club has gone up to the level it needs to be,” Simon said.

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH