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The 5 Most Expensive Signings in Hyundai A-League History

The Hyundai A-League has had its share of highly prolific players join our national football competition. We take a look at the highest transfer fees paid to players in the 13 years since the foundation of the league.

  1. Benjamin Vidaic, Sydney United to Sydney FC, $282,500, 2007.

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Image: Benny Vidaic’s former club Sydney FC, photo from Flickr taken by Mathew F.

The Sydney local came through the NSW Premier league and got himself noticed at Sydney United, earning himself a transfer to A-League side Sydney FC in 2007. The striker’s career never took off in Sydney FC. Vidaic only received two appearances with the club, failing to score in both, he returned to Sydney United on loan during the following year. Now 29, Vidaic plays for Fraser Park FC in the NSW Premier League 2.

  1. Joe Keenan, Willem II (Netherlands) to Melbourne Victory, $353,000, 2007.

2009 Hyundai A-League Grand Final
Image: Joe Keenan’s former club Melbourne Victory celebrate winning the 2009 grand final, image from Flickr by AsianFC.

One of the most travelled players to have featured in the A-League, many would be forgiven for not recognising the former Chelsea left back. Keenan spent 16 months with Melbourne Victory, playing just over 1,000 minutes before being shipped back to the UK, with Scottish Premier League side Hibernian FC.

The left back had a second stint with an A-League side, being loaned to Adelaide United from South Melbourne for the 2010 season, in which he played 14 games and scored one goal but retired from football soon afterwards.

  1. Carlos Hernández, LD Alajuelense (Costa Rica) to Melbourne Victory, $840,000, 2009.

Victory Acknowledges the Crowd
Image: Hernandez’s Melbourne Victory celebrate winning the A-League in 2007, image from Flickr by Michael Pearson.

After struggling with an injury which resulted in weight gain in 2006, Melbourne Victory took a gamble on Carlos Hernández in 2007 with a two-year loan from his parent club LD Alajuelense.

The attacking midfielder made a slow start, but Hernandez returned to full fitness and injected creativity into Victory’s game, bagging 8 goals and 9 assists.

Once the Costa Rican’s loan was over, Victory decided to make the move permanent with an $840,000 transfer fee, which the Costa Rican justified instantly, providing 13 goals and 9 assists that season.

Going on to play two more seasons with the Victory, Carlos then ventured on to the Indian Football League before returning to the A-League with the Wellington Phoenix for one more prolific season.

Hernández has been one of the A-League’s most influential players, collecting 42 goals and 37 assists in 140 appearances in the league. He earned himself the title of the league’s top import in 2011 and now plays for AD Carmelita in his home country of Costa Rica.

  1. Sasho Petrovski, Sydney FC to Central Coast Mariners, $1,060,000, 2006.

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Image: Petrovski’s Mariners take on his former club Sydney FC in the 2006 A-League grand final, image from Flickr by Matthew F.

The first transfer over the million dollar mark, Sasho Petrovski had been one of the best strikers in Australia even before the creation of the A-League, he scored an incredible 40 goals in 69 games for National Soccer League club Wollongong Wolves.

After a short stint in the Danish Superliga, Petrovski returned home to play for A-League side Sydney FC, where he scored 20 goals in 50 games.

His performances with the Sky Blues drew interest from a number of clubs, but it was the Central Coast Mariners that opted to pay the hefty fee to land the striker’s signature in 2006.

In two seasons with the Mariners, the striker racked up 13 goals in 49 games and his team finished as premiers in 2007/08. They went on to lose to Newcastle 1-0 in the grand-final.

Two years later in 2009, Petrovski went on to join Newcastle Jets on a free transfer, where he played a further 2 years and scored 8 goals.

The Bankstown local finished his playing career at National Premier League’s South Coast Wolves and retired in 2013.

  1. Shane Smeltz, Gold Coast United to Perth Glory, $1,280,000, 2011.

Sydney FC v Gold Coast_010
Image: Shane Smeltz’d Gold Coast United FC walking out before a match up with Sydney FC in 2010, image from Flickr by Matthew F.

Born in Germany, the New Zealand international has played for 16 different clubs throughout his career, but the prolific Kiwi demanded his highest transfer fee in 2011 when Perth Glory purchased him from Gold Coast United.

Smeltz began his footballing career on the Gold Coast, where his parents moved from New Zealand at the age of 6. After applying his trade at a number of National Premier League clubs, the striker took his chance in England, scoring a combined 21 goals for Mansfield Town, AFC Wimbledon and Halifax Town.

The Kiwi had his first stint in the A-League in 2007, returning to New Zealand to play two seasons with the newest A-League side Wellington Phoenix, scoring a sizeable 21 goals in 39 appearances.

Following the trend, the Wellington striker moved on to another expansion club in its first season with Gold Coast United, and Smeltz received the golden boot with 19 goals for the club. He tried his luck overseas again, with a 6 game cameo for Turkish side Gençlerbirliği S.K., before returning to the Gold Coast.

The largest fee paid for Smeltz from an A-League club came in 2011 when Gold Coast United demanded that Perth Glory cough up the hefty transfer levy for the Kiwi.

The Western Australian side placed their new marquee signing on a $4.1 million contract over three years, and although he didn’t find the same goal-scoring form as with his previous clubs, the influential forward scored 28 goals in 58 games.

His next stop was Sydney FC, joining as his contract ran out, and since then the New Zealand international has served terms with Kedah FA in Malaysia and Wellington Phoenix. He currently plays for Indonesian club Borneo FC.

 

Some of the players on the list have proven to be well worth their price tags, whilst others have not had the influence on the A-League that was initially expected when high transfer fees were handed over to the selling clubs.

With the speed at which the A-League is developing, it is fair to expect that this list will not be the same over the coming years, and as these records are broken, the anticipation of higher quality players comes with that. Let’s just hope they’re worth it.

 

 

 

(Transfer fees exchanged from euros to AUD and rounded to nearest solid number, may slightly vary due to the exchange rate at the time.)

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