With the Central Coast Mariners Academy and youth squads being famous for producing a number of talented individuals who have gone on to great heights, here at ccmariners.com.au we’ll be keeping an eye on the Mariners of yesteryear to see where they are at in Mariners around the World.
Alou Kuol – VfB Stuttgart
Alou left for Europe only weeks ago and has been straight into the squad for some preseason action with VfB Stuttgart. Alou got on the scoresheet in their 10-1 pre season victory over Hollenbach and has been training with the squad ahead of the start of the Bundesliga season which kicks off on the 14th of August.
Alou #Kuol macht sich bereit für die Einwechslung. #VfB | #VfBFCSG 3:0 pic.twitter.com/Xrhy5d6wI5
— VfB Stuttgart (@VfB) July 10, 2021
Pellegrino Mattarazzo is at the helm of the Stuttgart side who enjoyed a 9th place finish in last season’s Bundesliga with Bayern Munich being pushed all the way by Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig.
Mat Ryan – Real Socieadad
Mat Ryan has made the swap from the miserable English weather for the sunny shores of Spain. Matty fell out of favour under Graham Potter at Brighton and Hove Albion and was loaned out to Arsenal where he enjoyed a Europa League Semi Final berth and multiple Premier League appearances and clean sheets.
Muy contento de formar parte de un gran club como es la @RealSociedad. Con ganas de conocer a mis nuevos compañeros y a vosotros, aficion. AURRERA REALA!!! ?⚪️? https://t.co/AEZt9NFfcU
— Maty Ryan (@MatyRyan) July 12, 2021
Mat now joins a side with the likes of ex Manchester City player David Silva, and ex Manchester Unted forward Adnan Januzaj. Having finished the 2020/21 season in 5th place with European football once again on the horizon for Real, Ryan will be looking to hit the ground running in San Sebastian.
Tom Rogic – Celtic
Tom Rogic’s season at Celtic has begun with a stern test in the UEFA Champions League Qualifiers. Celtic are now under the reigns of Australian coach Ange Postecoglou, which hopefully will materialise for more game time for Tom, having been in the squad that Ange took to the World Cup in 2014.
Having been under an injury cloud for much of pre-season, Rogic replaced Scottish international David Turnbull in the 78th minute and performed well with both sides down to 10 men. The match finished 1-1 with it all to play for in the second leg, next week in Denmark.
Mustafa Amini – Apollon Limassol
Mustafa had been playing his football in Denmark for AGF but was released by the club and has been snapped up by Apollon Limassol based in Cyprus. Apollon have been in and around the Europa League for the past few seasons and with the introduction of the Conference League this year, Mustafa will be looking to show his talent again across Europe. Apollon finished the Cypriot first division in 2nd place last season and hope to repeat the trend for the next campaign.
Danny Vukovic – NEC Nijmegan
Vukovic was enjoying a fantastic spell with Genk in Belgium but returned to Sydney in March this year to support his family. After settling back into the country, an offer was made for the gloveman and he has found his way to the Europe, this time in the Eredivisie in the Netherlands. The club re-enters the Eredivisie having spent the last four seasons in the 2nd division.
Rogier Meijer is their manager, taking the reigns in June 2020, who will be looking to keep the club in the top division for as long as possible despite the Netherlands sporting many teams of Champions and Europa League quality.